IURC investigation of IPL safety issues “long overdue,” says Pryor

STATEHOUSE – State Rep. Cherrish Pryor (D-Indianapolis) today issued the following statement after the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) announced it will conduct an investigation of continued safety failures in facilities operated by Indianapolis Power & Light Company (IPL):

“Not only is this study needed, it is long overdue.

“I know that there has been more public attention on safety issues in recent days, but IPL customers have become quite familiar with these types of things in ways that have nothing to do with exploding manhole covers in downtown Indianapolis streets.

“Through the years, we have become used to breakdowns that cause us to lose power for varying lengths of time. I lost power in my home just a couple of weeks back.

“It’s difficult to accept these kinds of things when our utility bills continue to go up on a regular basis. I know that IPL will say these recent incidents demonstrate the need for the latest rate increase requested by the utility, which it says is supposed to address ‘the escalation in costs of providing reliable electricity, including operation, maintenance and general business expenses.’ The fact is that IPL has done a very poor job of maintenance and oversight of its entire infrastructure.

“While an exploding manhole might provide the most visible instance of that failure, it is seen more tellingly through the regular power outages that we face that don’t make it to the front pages of the local newspaper.

“So it is my hope that this IURC investigation will finally make it clear to IPL that it has to get its act together.

“One more thing. Until this matter is over, we should not be talking about any more rate increases for IPL. That consideration must wait until IPL can prove it can be a good community partner with the revenue it already gets from us.”