Ratepayer advocates recommend energy bill ‘relief plan’
Indiana utility customer advocacy groups on Tuesday released a slate of ambitious reforms they say would promote affordability for struggling residential and small-business ratepayers.
Indiana utility customer advocacy groups on Tuesday released a slate of ambitious reforms they say would promote affordability for struggling residential and small-business ratepayers.
Gov. Mike Braun has made energy a centerpiece of his first year, but his focus isn’t only about generating more electricity to feed growing demand from economic development. He also wants to lower the price of power for business and residential consumers.
The health care system’s plan to meet its energy needs includes working closely with its electricity provider, AES Indiana, building additional backup power systems and operating its own natural gas utility plant for heating and cooling.
Energy startup First American Nuclear plans to spend $4 billion and create 5,000 jobs in Indiana in the coming decade as it pursues building a nuclear plant powered by small modular reactors.
The Global Nuclear Energy Economic Summit at Purdue University got underway Wednesday with several hundred attendees from energy companies, utilities, academia, government and regulatory agencies.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said in a news release that the move will bring 5,000 high-paying jobs to Indiana.
Under the agreement, Duke Energy would be able to solicit interest in the existing coal units at its Cayuga Generating Station after two proposed gas units are placed in service in 2029 and 2030.
The all-stock deal announced Monday is expected to create a public water utility worth about $40 billion. Both companies have significant Indiana operations.
The process of selecting IURC board members usually doesn’t draw much attention, but that’s changed in the last year as rising utility rates and conversations about data centers make news.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission Nominating Committee’s members met in executive session Monday and reviewed 47 applications for three open seats on the five-member commission.
Some 1,400 miles of transmission lines in Indiana and Michigan serving 600,000 customers will be replaced under the effort.
If the data center operates at around 90% of its capacity over a full year, it would use nearly twice the amount of electricity used by all AES Indiana residential customers in 2024, according to federal filings.
The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor and the Citizen’s Action Coalition both said a settlement plan over electricity rates between AES Indiana, the city and numerous large businesses was not acceptable.
A few City-County Council members say Indianapolis should consider keeping AES out of private equity’s hands by acquiring the utility.
“Cable pollution,” or dormant, abandoned and low-hanging utility lines left behind by telecommunications companies, can pose safety risks and financial burdens for local governments, local leaders say.
BlackRock’s interest in AES represents a growing trend of private equity firms investing in, or buying outright, public utility companies as artificial intelligence fuels increasing electricity demands.
Private investment firms that have done well investing in infrastructure over the last 15 years now have strong incentives to add data centers, power plants and the services that support them.
The proposal appears to have bipartisan support. But it’s unclear how much the City-County Council, which has no actual authority over the utility, can truly influence the process.
Indiana’s second-highest official has thrown his weight behind calls for a sales tax moratorium on utility services—but, even as rates rise, the idea faces a difficult path through the General Assembly.
In the past week, Braun has also accepted the resignation of his IEDC executive director and appointed a new leader of the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor.