Utility seeks to charge customers for coal ash removal

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Vectren is seeking permission from Indiana regulators to pass on the cost of cleaning up the coal ash pond at its A.B. Brown power plant to customers.

The utility included the request in a petition filed with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission seeking approval of plans to excavate and recycle coal ash from the pond near the Ohio River.

Although the petition doesn't say how much the utility will seek from customers, Vectren spokeswoman Natalie Hedde says the project will cost $164 million.

The utility says it wants to recover 80 percent of the project's cost by adding it to customer bills separately from Vectren's base rate and spread out over 14 years. That matches the span of Vectren's agreement with the unnamed company that will purchase the recovered coal ash. Hedde says recovery of the remaining cost will be deferred.

Vectren, which is now part of Houston, Texas-based CenterPoint Energy, serves customers in Indiana and Ohio.

___

Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com