Appeal challenges Lake Station water plant sale
Indiana Utility Rate Commission approved the purchase Aug. 15 by a 3-2 vote
Lake Station’s $20.7 million water plant sale to the Indiana-American Water Co. has been put on hold after the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, the state’s consumer watchdog agency, filed a notice to appeal with the Indiana Court of Appeals.
The Indiana Utility Rate Commission approved the sale Aug. 15 by a 3-2 vote.
The deadline to appeal was Friday. The OUCC filed its notice Wednesday.
No arguments on the merits of the appeal are listed in the notice.
“It simply opens the case at the court,” said OUCC spokesman Anthony Swinger.
The case was filed by state utility consumer counselor William I. Fine, an attorney and former state lawmaker, formerly of Munster.
Swinger said parties appealing the IURC ruling will be given a deadline to file a brief with the court detailing their arguments.
Swinger said those arguments would likely be simi- lar to the dissenting views of the two IURC commissioners who opposed the sale.
Lake Station Mayor Christopher Anderson told the city council the sale was being appealed at its meeting Thursday.
“From our standpoint, it’s a huge disappointment to us. We were looking for- ward to closing the deal … and getting a better quality of water.”
Anderson said the sale could be on hold now for a couple months or up to a year.
The financially struggling city and water company have been negotiating the sale of the water plant at 2898 Union St. since 2016. The plant was built in 2012.
The IURC narrowly approved the sale after weighing objections from the OUCC and the municipalities of Crown Point and Schererville. IURC commissioners Sarah E. Freeman and David L. Ober dissented on the sale vote.
They agreed with opponents who argued that $7.3 million of the sale costs should be disallowed because the plant was not needed by Indiana-American Water, which gets its supply from Lake Michigan.
Freeman and Ober wrote: “How the unregulated Lake Station water utility uses these assets does not justify saddling Indiana American’s ratepayers with the financial consequences of their inclusion in Indiana American’s rate base.”
Crown Point argued wholesale customers like Crown Point, which buys water on contract from Indiana-American Water, but maintains its own system, could face higher rates while Lake Station’s rates would be lower.
Indiana-American Water officials said the plant did add value to its system, and it couldn’t be separated from the sale price because the plant has already been built.