New Legislation Could Decide City's Fight over Electricity Provider

State Representative Win Moses has proposed legislation today that would allow the City of Fort Wayne to retain the rights to decide the service provider for a central portion of the city. For almost 35 years Indiana and Michigan Power has provided power to about thirty-three thousand homes in central Fort Wayne. The city leased that right to I & M in 1974. The lease expires next year. The city believes it retains all the rights it leased to the power company once the lease expires, which would include the right to decide who the next power provider would be. I & M believes it retains the right to provide power to the city even after the lease expires. It bases it claim on a decision by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. In the 1980s, the IURC assigned each portion of the state to a power company. Fort Wayne falls within the area assigned to I & M. Representative Moses however sees the situation differently, "I & Ms position with the city has been-- bully. They are trying to take advantage of an Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission decision from 20 years ago to deny citizens of Fort Wayne money." The current legislation if passed would allow any city who leases power rights to retain those rights once the lease expires. Rep. Moses said "If it passes the entire legislature, it will save tens of millions of dollars for the rate payers and tax payers of Fort Wayne." Once the lease expires next year the city would like to take bids from different power providers to find out who can provide the lowest rates to residents. Kumar Menon, Fort Waynes City Utilities Director, says the utilities process must be open and should be a competitive process to guarantee residents the best rate. As it stands now, the process has not been competitive in decades. The legislation is an amendment attached to House Bill 1001. Representative Moses says Bill Crawford has sponsored the bill on his behalf. Check out the website below to see a map that tells you if your home falls under the disputed area. http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/images/stories/city_light_lease.pdf