Business Groups Urge Alliant to Lower Profit Margins on Investments After Commercial Electric Rates Hit Record High in 2024

/in /by

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, November 4, 2025
Contact: Eric Woolson (515.681.3967)
ewoolson@theconceptworks.com

Business Groups Urge Alliant to Lower Profit Margins on Investments
After Commercial Electric Rates Hit Record High in 2024

Energy, small business advocates call on Alliant Energy to agree to MidAmerican Energy’s profit margin and investment planning process

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Two Iowa business groups today called on Alliant Energy to lower its request for 11% returns on future investments and commit to real stakeholder involvement in future investment planning after a federal agency reported that the company’s commercial electric rates surged to an all-time high in 2024.

Recently released data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration indicates the Madison, Wis.-based utility’s commercial electric rates reached 73% higher than MidAmerican Energy’s commercial rates last year. The data also reveals that Alliant’s residential customers’ rates were 62% higher than their MidAmerican counterparts, underscoring a substantial and growing disparity in energy costs across Iowa.1 

“Despite their current high rates, Alliant is asking for significantly higher profit margins for its new investments than what MidAmerican Energy voluntarily agreed to. In its current advanced ratemaking proceeding before the Iowa Utilities Commission, Alliant is requesting an 11.25% return on investments even as MidAmerican Energy has agreed to a 9.95%,” said Bob Rafferty, executive director of Iowa Business for Clean Energy. “Both returns are too high for such low-risk investments. Seeking an 11.25% return adds insult to injury.”2

Alliant and MidAmerican recently filed comments in response to an Iowa Utility Commission proposal concerning planning guidelines for utility companies. In those comments, the utilities contend that they are not required to proposed investments that “are the most reasonable alternative.”3

“Our members have to pay for those investments. Ratepayers need to be involved in investment decisions, especially when the utilities openly acknowledge that they do not view it as their responsibility to propose the most reasonable alternative.” stressed Matt Everson, Iowa Director of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Rafferty noted that MidAmerican Energy has also agreed to a planning process that ensures stakeholder voices are heard in the process while Alliant has not. “Alliant, at a minimum, should agree to conduct its planning under those same terms to ensure ratepayers aren’t forced to pay for wasteful spending that merely further pads profits. ” he said.

He continued, “Families and businesses should not be forced to shoulder excessive energy costs without clear justification. It’s time for Alliant to agree to lower profit margins and a strong ratepayer involvement in planning for future investments.

Everson echoed Rafferty’s concerns, “Small businesses are the backbone of Iowa’s economy. Alliant’s unprecedented rate gap is putting businesses in its service area at a significant competitive disadvantage. Our members are deeply concerned about the impact these soaring costs have on job creation, business growth, and our state’s overall economic health,” Everson said. “With energy costs rising so dramatically, many of our members are facing tough choices – whether to pass along costs to customers, cut back on hours, or even completely reconsider their operations in Iowa. These rate increases are not sustainable for Main Street businesses.”

Alliant Energy’s Iowa service area includes more than 84,750 commercial customers and approximately 500,000 retail electric customers.

# # # #

  1. Data from forms EIA-861- schedules 4A & 4D and EIA-861S, Tables 6 and 7
  2. Alliant Docket, RPU-2025-0003; MidAmerican Energy Docket, RPU-2025-0001
  3. Joint Utility Comments on RES Guidelines, Docket NOI-2025-0002, pg. 3.