WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -– Indiana American Water today filed an application with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) requesting a $9.43 per month increase in rates for a typical residential customer.

Indiana American Water’s ongoing infrastructure investments, rising expenses related to water treatment and delivery systems, and increased operating costs are the main drivers behind today’s rate request.

The company’s request would increase the typical monthly residential water bill in the West Lafayette District, using 6,000 gallons per month, by 31 cents per day, keeping the costs of water service for most local households at about a penny per gallon.

The company will have invested approximately $198 million statewide to enhance its water infrastructure between January 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009. All these investments in local water infrastructure systems enhance water quality, service reliability and fire protection for customers.

Many communities across the country are facing a challenge of deteriorating water and wastewater infrastructure and associated rate hikes. The United States EPA says the nation’s water and wastewater utilities will need to make more than $335 billion in infrastructure investments over the next 20 years to replace thousands of miles of pipe and for upgrades to treatment plants, storage tanks and other assets to ensure public health.

Indiana American Water’s strategy is to make prudent infrastructure investments, which is more cost-effective in the long run and reduces the risk of major service and water quality issues. Much of this rate request is driven by Indiana American Water’s investments to maintain and upgrade infrastructure and ensure that drinking water service meets all quality standards.

According to West Lafayette Operations Superintendent Chris Johnsen, Indiana American Water has invested nearly $38 million in the West Lafayette District’s local infrastructure during the last 2 ½ years. The local capital improvements are numerous and include investing nearly $35 million to greatly enhance water quality by removing iron and manganese through new treatment processes at the district’s new and existing facilities. The project includes construction of a new treatment facility at Davis Ferry Road and 9th Street and adding filtration and upgrading the existing Happy Hollow treatment facility. Other investments include nearly $1.7 million to replace or relocate water mains, nearly $1 million to install new meters and service lines, as well as improvements to water pumping and storage facilities.

No rates will change until the IURC completes a comprehensive review of the request and determines it is reasonable and justified. The regulatory process normally takes about a year to complete. If approved as requested, the typical residential bill would increase by 42.55 percent. The company last filed for new rates in December 2006 and received an order from the IURC on October 10, 2007.

Indiana American Water’s rates are based on the true costs of providing water service, as reviewed by the IURC. The company works hard to operate efficiently and control operating expenses. The company’s goal is to balance that objective with the continuous need for significant capital investment to meet increasing state and federal requirements and customer needs.

Many expenses to provide water service, most notably production expenses such as chemicals used in the water treatment process, have far out-paced the rate of inflation.

Following today’s filing, a comprehensive review process by the IURC is the next step in the rate-making process. Public hearings and opportunities for public comment are part of the process, under the direction of the IURC.

PLAINFIELD, Ind. — The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission today approved Duke Energy’s revised cost estimate of $2.35 billion for its clean coal gasification power plant under construction in southwest Indiana.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK)

The commission also approved the company’s $17 million request to study capturing a portion of the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions. Duke Energy would like to explore capturing and storing carbon dioxide permanently in underground geologic formations. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas associated with global warming.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) filed its $365 million cost increase request with state regulators in May. International demand for materials and rising labor costs were the main drivers for the cost increase. The company has now negotiated contracts with major suppliers and can better forecast project costs.

The plant is expected to have a total estimated average customer rate impact of about 18 percent. The rate impact will be phased in between now and 2013.

The Edwardsport project is the first major new coal-fired power plant to be constructed in Indiana in more than 20 years. The Indiana State Utility Forecasting Group predicts that Indiana will need new power generation equal to five projects the size of this plant by 2012.

The approximately 630-megawatt plant will use advanced integrated gasification combined cycle technology. The new plant will produce 10 times as much power as the existing plant at Edwardsport, yet it will emit less sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury than the plant it replaces. Due to the plant’s superior efficiency, it also will emit 45 percent less carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour than the existing facility.

Duke Energy selected an existing power plant site in Edwardsport, Ind., for the project. The company will retire the existing plant – with coal and oil units built between 1944 and 1951 – prior to startup of the new facility. Construction began early last year and is scheduled to be completed in 2012.

“When it’s completed, this will be one of the cleanest, most efficient coal-fired plants in the world,” said Duke Energy Indiana President Jim Stanley. “In the Midwest, coal is plentiful and relatively low-cost, and finding ways to burn it cleanly is fundamental to meeting our customers’ demand for power. If greenhouse gases are going to be regulated, and we believe they will be, then coal gasification plants with carbon capture and sequestration technology hold tremendous promise to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and help address global climate change.”

Integrated gasification combined cycle technology uses a coal gasification system to convert coal into a synthesis gas (syngas). The syngas is processed to remove sulfur, mercury and ash before being sent to a traditional combined cycle power plant, using two combustion turbines and a steam turbine to efficiently produce electricity.

Duke Energy also is meeting increased Indiana power demands through green power sources such as wind energy. Last year, the company began purchasing power from a Benton County, Ind., wind farm.

Duke Energy’s Indiana operations provide approximately 7,300 net megawatts of electricity to approximately 775,000 electric customers, making it the state’s largest electric supplier.

Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 4 million U.S. customers and natural gas service to approximately 520,000 customers in its regulated jurisdictions. The company has approximately 35,000 net megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Midwest and the Carolinas, and natural gas distribution services in Ohio and Kentucky. In addition, Duke Energy has more than 4,000 net megawatts of electric generation in Latin America, and is a joint-venture partner in a U.S. real estate company.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at: www.duke-energy.com.