Regulators plan more hearings on Duke plant costs

Indiana utility regulators will hold two additional field hearings to take public comment on Duke Energy's request to pass along to ratepayers the $2.9 billion cost of a coal-gasification plant being built near Edwardsport in southwestern Indiana.

The state utility regulatory commission will hold field hearings Feb. 28 at Columbus North High School and March 1 at the Kokomo Event Center. Both hearings will begin at 5:30 p.m.

The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor and Citizens Action Coalition are urging Duke customers to attend the hearings. Both groups have expressed concern about the project's rising costs.

Duke says it is the first time that coal-gasification technology has been used on such a scale and it has needed more steel, piping, electric cable and other materials than originally expected.