Novak issues statement concerning recent NIPSCO rate hike requests

On Friday, July 24, Gov. Mike Braun issued an executive order to keep operating coal-burning power plants which were set to be retired. Braun cited increased energy demands from AI data centers as his reasoning for keeping them open.

On Tuesday, Aug. 4, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) filed a request with regulators to collect $38 million dollars from ratepayers in return for complying with federal executive orders that forced two coal plants in Northwest Indiana to stay operational. This request comes on the heels of Wednesday's ruling by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) that denied NIPSCO's request to bill ratepayers $741 million for natural gas infrastructure improvements.  

State Rep. Randy Novak (D-Michigan City) released the following statement:

"Our federal and state governments need to be doing more to protect energy consumers. By requiring utility companies to keep old, unreliable and costly coal plants operational, they are stifling energy innovation and raising rates on customers. I get that coal has become something of a culture war issue. But the White House should put our wallets before making a point for the sake of making a point.

"If the government is going to force coal-burning power plants to stay open for the development of privately owned AI technology, the corporations profiting off that technology should be footing the bill, not consumers. I am supportive of Indiana's 'all-of-the-above' energy approach, but propping up an outdated energy source without any benefit to Indiana residents is not a sound strategy. The $38 million NIPSCO is requesting is just for one quarter. As long as these plants are forced to stay open, that number will continue to rise.

"I do want to applaud the IURC for rightfully denying NIPSCO's request to pass of $741 million in development costs to consumers. Utility providers need to bring sufficient evidence that consumers will benefit from projects like this before they can raise prices on their customers. I am hopeful that in the future our regulators will protect Hoosier families from unnecessary costs like they did in this case."