Utility rates to go up 20 percent

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WFLI) - You can expect to be paying more money for your electricity in the near future.

The State Utility Forecasting Group predicts rate payers could fork out 20% more for their electricity in the coming years and that's on top of inflation.

Director Doug Gotham said a few factors play into the rise and one reason for the increase is the cost of putting equipment in to control emissions.

"Cost of new generation that is under construction to meet future demand. That generation cost money. That money, that cost will be passed on to the rate payer. The third is the cost of upgrading existing generation in order to extend its lifetime. Plants are built to last a certain amount of time. As they age, parts get replaced," explained director Doug Gotham.

Gotham expects by 2017, the rates should level off.

This isn't the first time rates have seen an increase though.

"Prior to that we had to go back to the 70s and 80s to see an increase in prices," Gotham said. "Our prices have been fairly low and hadn't really been increased from the 80s to the 2000s. That's the first time we started seeing price increases driven by the environmental rules as well as higher fuel costs."