CEDI Coalition Witnesses File Testimony, Rebuttal

The CEDI Coalition’s three expert witnesses have submitted public and confidential versions of their Direct Testimony and related exhibits in the current IUB docket considering Alliant Energy’s unprecedented proposed rate increase.

Our Coalition’s excellent witnesses and hundreds of pages of testimony and exhibits focused on:

  • Reducing the overall magnitude of the rate increase
  • Addressing the high energy burden on households and the negative impact of high rates on community economic development
  • Defending the rights of customers and communities to invest in and own distributed energy resources
  • Emphasizing the critical importance of cost-effectiveness, resiliency, and transparent and inclusive planning in grid investments.

Meet the CEDI Coalition Witnesses

  Dave Berg is the founder and Principal of Dave Berg Consulting, LLC. He is a licensed professional engineer with over forty years of experience in the electric utility industry. He is an expert on class cost-of-service and rate design and addresses both of these important matters in his testimony.
   
  Karl Rábago is the founder and Principal of Rabago Energy, LLC. Karl has worked for more than 33 years in the utility industry. Karl’s previous employment experience includes serving as a Commissioner on the Public Utility Commission of Texas, Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Energy, Vice President with Austin Energy, Executive Director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center, Managing Director with the Rocky Mountain Institute, and Director with AES Corporation. He has submitted testimony or comments in utility proceedings in over 30 states. Karl is a national expert on distributed energy resources and distribution system planning, which are some of the subjects he discusses in his testimony. 
   
  James Martin-Schramm is an ethicist, Policy Analyst with the Clean Energy Districts of Iowa, and Emeritus Professor at Luther College. Most of his scholarship has focused on ethics and public policy—especially energy and climate policy. He has submitted testimony in several energy efficiency dockets, rate cases, and other dockets in Iowa over the past two decades. His testimony is centered on customer affordability, home energy burdens, and the impact of IPL’s proposed rate increase on all customers–especially low-income households. He also discusses whether and how Alliant should be able to recover its remaining investment in the recently closed Lansing power plant. Finally, he encourages the Board to consider imposing a management efficiency penalty on Alliant.  

 

More Information

Next-steps in this case include:

  • June 18, 2024: Settlement deadline in which Alliant Energy may offer to settle any of these challenges prior to a formal hearing
  • July 9-12, 2024: Any unresolved issues, of which CEDI expects to see several, will be addressed at a legal hearing at the Iowa Utilities Board

To read more about the CEDI Coalition’s efforts in this case and for resources to discuss potential rate increases with city and county leadership, please visit cleanenergydistricts.org/cedi-coalition.

Posted: May 25, 2024

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Andrew Johnson

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