The huge investment by a foreign government is unprecedented for Indiana utilities, which typically raise capital through more traditional routes, such as selling debt through investment banks.
Read More
Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana said the huge new data centers planned in the state could lead to skyrocketing utility bills while providing few jobs relative to their energy consumption and the incentives they receive.
The move comes five months after the utility company agreed to supply up to 10 million gallons of water to the advanced manufacturing district by 2027.
The new law could allow utilities to pass along certain costs to customers for federally mandated projects without having to get pre-approval for those projects from state regulators.
The ruling is a setback for consumer activists and customer groups, who say Duke Energy’s application to raise electricity rates by an average of 15% is incomplete and confusing.
IPL has filed petitions with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to install $100 million worth of pollution controls at Petersburg, a move it says will allow it to meet strict environmental regulations.
Duke Energy’s settlement with four consumer and environmental groups likely means an end to all serious opposition to the $3.3 billion plant, one of the most expensive projects in Indiana history, which has been mired for years in controversy.
The leader of Citizens Action Coalition said Indiana lawmakers put the state at a disadvantage when they passed a bill killing an energy-efficiency program that could have helped the state meet the new federal carbon-emission goal by 2030.
‘Fracking’ has made natural gas cheap and abundant, but prices could rise with demand, costing consumers.
A state administrative law judge oversaw the settlement, which was signed Wednesday by Duke Energy, the Sierra Club, Citizens Action Coalition, Valley Watch and Save the Valley.
The Sierra Club wants the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to block an IPL plan to spend $511 million on pollution controls at its 39-year-old Harding Street plant, plus a four-unit station in the southwestern Indiana town of Petersburg.
Utility wanted to conduct a study to determine how to dispose of carbon dioxide produced by its Edwardsport coal gasification plant.
Utility denies claim it is trying to sidestep $2.6 billion cap on costs that can be passed along to ratepayers.
“Gross mismanagement” and improper communications with ex-regulatory chairman are among evidence in testimony to make Duke, rather than ratepayers, swallow major cost overruns at Edwardsport power plant.
Former Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission chief David Hardy and the state's then-finance director, Jennifer Alvey, improperly discussed the merits of a $6.9 billion contract the Indiana Finance Authority ultimately struck with operators of the Indiana Gasification plant proposed for Rockport, plant opponents alleged Monday.
Indiana saw a 700-percent increase in total wind-generated power in 2009, an increase second only to Utah, according to the
U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report.
A consumer group opposing Senate Bill 115 argues the measure is yet another concession to the developer of a coal-to-methane
plant proposed in Rockport.
The Hoosier Environmental Council and Citizens Action Coalition see an expansion of the state’s
“net metering” policy as achievable during the short legislative session that starts Jan.
5.
The state’s utility consumer agency is opposing Duke Energy’s request to have customers pay $121 million to
study where to inject underground the carbon dioxide to be produced by its Edwardsport plant.
Indianapolis Power & Light faces potential fines and capital expenditures after allegedly updating three generating
plants over 23 years without adding the most modern pollution controls.
Utility ratepayer groups say House Bill 1496, which is stuck in committee, is typical of what they see as a disturbing trend:
allowing utilities to pass the cost of mandates directly to consumers. HB 1496 would require Indiana’s coal-reliant electric
utilities to generate at least 10 percent of their power from renewable energy sources like wind and landfill gas.
