Alliant Energy (LNT) Moves Forward With Rate Settlement

Alliant Energy Corp.’s (NYSE:LNT) Iowa Utility recently clinched a partial settlement agreement of its 2017 electric rate review. Per the proposed agreement, the total increase arising out this base rate review would be 8.6%.

Per the announcement, the filing would reflect overall revenue revision of $130 million annually.

On Apr 3, the company had filed its first rate review after six years. An interim base rate hike came into effect from Apr 13. The next hearing of the rate review is expected to come in effect on Oct 4, 2017, before the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB).

Rate Hike is Essential

A rate hike in general is not expected to encourage customers but it is an essential part of regulated structure to keep the investment in maintaining the quality of service going.Alliant Energy’s electric rate settlement agreement is a testament of its mission to provide clean and sustainable energy to customers.

Considering 2016 as the base year, the company aims to spend approximately $6.8 billion over the next three years. Further, the company’s growth prospects look attractive owing to strong state economies in its service areas and new electric generation capacity are compelling prospects for it moving ahead.

We expect the company to keep up the good performance on the back of a number of strategic initiatives undertaken by the company as it continues to meet customers’ evolving needs. Its efforts to strengthen power grid have also resulted in fewer and shorter outages along with enhancing service reliability.

Price Movement

Alliant Energy has advanced 3.8% in the last 12 months compared with 1.6% gain of its industry.

The new electricity rates which were implemented during the month of April bolstered performance.

Zacks Rank & Other Stocks

Alliant Energy currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Investors can consider better-ranked stocks from the same space such as CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) , FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) and Pattern Energy Group Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGI) each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.

CenterPoint delivered an average earnings surprise of 10.3% in the trailing four quarters. Its 2017 estimates have narrowed by 2 cents to $1.31 in the last 60 days.

FirstEnergy delivered an average surprise of 6.1% in the trailing four quarters. Its 2017 estimates have risen by 3 cents to $2.83 per share in the last 60 days.

Pattern Energy delivered an average surprise of 59.2% in the trailing four quarters. Its 2017 estimates have risen by 6 cents to 27 cents per share in the last 60 days.

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