Last year, an economic development leader from Noble County and an executive from Indiana Michigan Power Co. visited the corporate headquarters of four companies with operations in the county.

The early sense was that the visits, funded by I&M, a subsidiary of American Electric Power Co. Inc., significantly enhanced relationships between the county and the companies.

"From my perspective, the visits went very well," said Rick Sherck, executive director of the Noble County Economic Development Corp. "They shared some of their growth plans with us, and one said they needed to grow in 2012 and (the visit) 'will move you up the list and improve your chances of getting that growth opportunity.'"

Corporate visits involving local economic development officials are part of a three-year, $1.7-million economic development program incorporated in I&M's 4.58-percent average Indiana rate hike in 2009. This year, the utility is seeking to maintain the economic development program as part of a 14-percent average Indiana rate-hike request and include the program as part of a 9.72-percent average rate increase request in Michigan.

Jill Perillo, I&M economic development manager, said the program has the dual benefit of spurring business attraction, retention and expansion - and thus creating jobs - while at the same time helping the utility maintain or grow its industrial base of customers.

Perillo said the effort makes sense in any economic environment, but it has been especially important in the wake of a recession.

Between 2008 and 2011, the number of I&M's industrial customers dropped from 5,113 to 5,060 - a decrease of 1 percent. While that may not seem like a significant loss, Perillo noted that industrial customers are the utility's largest electric users.

Overall, I&M's customer base increased by the same scant 1 percent over the three years - from 582,140 to 582,752.

"A lot of people don't really think of us as being in the same boat as your typical business (during a recession)," Perillo said. "But we've lost some of our industrial customer base, and we also have to maintain the customer base that we have."

Perillo acknowledged that I&M's economic development program is a small fraction of the company's budget. But she said it represents a notable resurgence of I&M's economic development efforts - a resurgence that has put northeast Indiana's largest electricity provider at the forefront of a number of initiatives.

The program has also produced notable results. In 2010 - the first full year of tracking outcomes - economic development projects that I&M was involved in generated 1,600 new jobs, retained 82 jobs and led to $122.4 million in new investment. Perillo said "involvement" includes early discussions about meeting infrastructure needs for expansions or relocations and rate modifications for projects.

Perillo, who recently became board president of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance, cited these components of the economic development program:

. The corporate visit initiative in which I&M will pay for a limited number of visits by the utility and local economic development officials to the corporate headquarters of companies in I&M's Indiana service area, which covers a patchwork of communities in northeast, north-central and east-central Indiana.

Perillo and Noble County's Sherck last year visited the headquarters of Guardian Industries, Auburn Hills, Mich.; Star of the West Milling Co., Frankenmuth, Mich.; Vibracoustic North America, Plymouth, Mich.; and Courier Corp., North Chelmsford, Mass.

"Hopefully, it garners new investment in the service territory," Perillo said, "which would mean more jobs, more load on our system, and we would be able to grow our customer base."

. An initiative in concert with the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership and Development Counsellors International in which the entities are working to get positive national media attention for the region's economic development efforts and in the process position northeast Indiana as a good place to do business.

I&M is paying 75 percent of cost; the partnership, 25 percent.

. An economic development rider that gives three-year discounts on the cost of electrical demand for certain brownfield, greenfield and vacant building projects. The discounts range from 15 to 20 percent.

Perillo said the rider is designed for new developments and serves as an incentive similar to tax abatement. "We aren't just giving this out to anyone," she said. "We want there to be a need, a competitive situation."

Perillo said I&M is also interested in assisting local economic development organizations in the utility's service area with the cost of studies in securing shovel-ready sites.

Ken McCrory, executive director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp., said I&M helped pay for a portion of the roughly $45,000 cost of getting three sites shovel-ready.

He said the utility also paid for his participation in a 30-hour Ball State University course covering a variety of subjects related to economic development, and it assisted in paying for his organization's website.

Perillo acknowledged that some people may perceive another rate hike as running counter to economic development interests, even if I&M has the lowest rates among investor-owned utilities in Indiana and Michigan.

"Nobody likes to see a water bill go up, or a gas bill or an electric bill," she said. "But the fact of the matter is, it's the world we're living in right now.

"There are a lot of things that drive electricity costs higher. There are things we have to do to maintain our system. There are things we have to do to our plants to maintain environmental compliance.

"And a lot of people don't think of the utility company as having the same obstacles as we have in our (personal) lives. Like getting gas at the pump. Well, our company deals with that cost somewhere along the line, too."

Having fewer industrial customers to help pay for I&M's cost of doing business only exacerbates the situation, she said.

She and I&M are hoping the utility's economic development efforts will bear fruit, particularly with the corporate visits.

"We want to strengthen those relationships," Perillo said, "so that when a company is ready to pull the trigger and (expand), they choose someplace like Noble County, for instance, instead of someplace in Wisconsin."