At IMPA’s October 2025 IMPA Board Meeting, IMPA’s Board of Commissioners, which are made up of a representative from each of IMPA’s 61 member communities, unanimously approved the 2026 Rate Study and Operating Budget. The 2026 Rate Study and Operating Budget included an average wholesale rate increase of 2.7% for IMPA’s member communities beginning on January 1, 2026. This modest increase demonstrates the Agency’s long-term stability and commitment to responsible stewardship. As a not-for-profit organization, IMPA prioritizes keeping rates steady and affordable for its 61 member communities.
IMPA studies and formulates its wholesale rates each year to keep up with changing conditions in the electric market, shifts in the economy, and internal strategies. The annual rate study can result in a rate increase or decrease. In January of 2025, IMPA actually implemented an average wholesale rate decrease of 4.96%. With the upcoming 2026 increase of 2.7%, IMPA’s member municipal utilities will still be paying less to the Agency for their wholesale power supply than they did two years ago for the same amount of power.
As the prices for day-to-day essentials increase, so do the costs of generating and transmitting electricity, in large part due to increases in fuel costs, inflation on electrical equipment, transmission rates, supply chain issues, and US energy policy. Supply chain issues and delays have affected deliveries and have also made maintaining and improving electric infrastructure more costly for utilities who try to keep up with grid modernization to provide high quality service and protect electric assets. Still, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that costs have increased by approximately 37% in the last decade, IMPA’s wholesale rates have only increased by 11.45% when compared to the Agency’s wholesale rates 10 years ago. This underscores IMPA’s proven ability to provide affordable rates to its members, living up to its motto to provide a low-cost, reliable, and environmentally-responsible power supply.
Rate stability is one of the many hallmarks of public power utilities. Compared to investor-owned utilities in the state, IMPA’s proposed 2026 wholesale rate increase is the lowest among recent utility increases. In a July rate comparison conducted by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, Indiana’s investor-owned utilities saw an average 17.9% increase in their residential electric bills compared to the same month last year. Other investor-owned utilities have raised rates even further since then, making the disparity even larger. In contrast, IMPA’s not-for-profit, community-oriented business model supports stable rate changes.
“Our responsibility is to ensure long term reliability for our members,” said IMPA President and CEO, Jack Alvey. “We’re seeing rapid cost changes in several different sectors across the country, but we work hard to keep things measured and reasonable. Every penny that we have goes toward ensuring quality service today and a dependable future. This moderate increase will allow us to continue doing right by our member utilities and their customers.”
IMPA’s track record of measured rate changes allows its member communities to remain resilient through volatile market conditions. The families and businesses that reside in the Agency’s member communities depend on steady rates to keep their homes warm, their workplaces running, and their families fed. With this in mind, IMPA keeps its focus on responsible growth so that its membership can continue to rely on its financial future.