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Letter to the Editor: Alliant Energy Is NOT Decorah's Friend

Posted: Wed, Apr 29, 2020 12:02 PM

(The following Letter to the Editor has been submitted by Bob Puffer of Decorah):

"Here's why Alliant Energy is not 'Decorah's friend;'

  • While campaigning against a municipal utility, Alliant looked the citizens of Decorah square in the face and lied about proposed rate increases. The rate increases they already knew about were many time greater than what they proclaimed during the campaign.
  • Alliant looked us square in the face and lied about the insurmountable costs of acquiring their equipment.
  • Alliant sent out paid "volunteers" to go door-to-door and lie about all sorts of things, including how the electrical infrastructure in Decorah couldn't be maintained by a municipal utility.
  • Alliant has set the cost of burying cable along Locust Road at an extraordinarily high level. Many of the municipal utilities operating in Iowa have successfully buried all the electrical cable in their towns and they didn't accomplish this by spending $1.5M per mile.

Alliant doesn't want to be our friend or friend to any other community in which they work. They want to be a friend to their shareholders. That's very typical for corporations but what makes a utility different is they own a monopoly for those communities.

I would encourage the Decorah City Council to:
  • Continue their efforts with the Iowa Utilities Board to sidetrack Alliant's blackmailing scheme over the buried cable.
  • Consult with other communities with municipal utilities on what a "reasonable" amount should constitute the costs of burying one mile of electrical cable. 
  • (If no relief for these costs can be obtained) put off the burying of cable on Locust Road until the community can have another vote on establishing a municipal utility, presumably two years. Locust Road has been a project waiting to happen for many years and I don't think doing it while being held hostage justifies doing it now. After all of their shenanigans, I doubt Alliant wonders which way a second vote would go."