FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WISH) — Indiana Michigan Power (IM), an American Electric Power (AEP) company,announced Tuesday that it will file to reduce base rates — the largest portion of most bills — as partof a comprehensive Customer Benefits Plan. According to a release from IM, the Customer Benef its Plan includes: Rate Reduction — lowers the current base rate, which is the largest portion of most bills. Benefits Bank— a tool that will be used to stabilize customers’ rates by providing a bufferagainst future cost increases. Reliability Improvements — strategic investments in modern infrastructure andtechnology designed to improve grid performance, resulting in fewer and shorter outages,building on a 32% improvement in reliability over the past five years. Steve Baker, IM’s President and Chief Operating Officer, says he’s aware that customers are concerned about affordability and the impact of data-center growth on rates. “Our priority is to keep rates as low as possible while delivering reliable power and growing our communities.” IM is headquartered in Fort Wayne and serves more than 600,000 customers, while AEP is based in Columbus, Ohio, and delivers power to 5.6 million customers across 11 states. Additional details of the Customer Benefits Plan and opportunities for public input will be shared closer to the filing date this summer. ...read more read less