Energy "Emergency" Keeps Old Coal Plants Operating, Putting Indiana Utilities (i.e. Customers) On Hook For Millions

A renewed federal order is keeping two aging Indiana coal plants running months after their planned retirement — and utilities say the price tag is quickly climbing into the hundreds of millions. The U.S. Department of Energy on Monday issued new emergency orders requiring Northern Indiana Public Service Co., NIPSCO, and CenterPoint Energy to continue operating coal units at the R.M. Schahfer and F.B. Culley generating stations through at least June 21.

The directive extends an initial 90-day order issued in late December under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act. Federal officials have argued the move is necessary to avoid potential power shortages and maintain grid reliability across the Midwest. “The Trump Administration will continue taking action to keep America’s coal plants running to ensure we don’t lose critical generation sources,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. “Americans deserve access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy to power their homes all the time, regardless of whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.”

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But utility officials told state regulators this week that complying with the orders is already proving to be costly.At a Tuesday hearing before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, NIPSCO President and Chief Operating Officer Vince Parisi said the mandate will require significant new spending to keep the aging coal units running, including major capital investments on top of day-to-day operating expenses.“ We’ll have fixed and variable operating costs… as well as any kind of capital investment,” Parisi said. “I think we’ve estimated it could be in excess of $100 million just in the investments in the units, and then operating costs on top of that.”

Those costs include fuel, chemicals and staffing, along with potential upgrades needed to keep the units operational. One of the Schahfer units in Jasper County, Parisi noted, has been offline since last summer and is still under evaluation.CenterPoint officials additionally described similarly steep expenses, telling regulators the federal order is driving daily operating costs into the seven figures.“ We are averaging $1.2 million on a daily operation,” said Michael Roeder, CenterPoint’s Indiana president, adding that costs will fluctuate depending on how the unit is dispatched. “As we get into the second 90 days, (we’ll) likely take a planned outage, which will also have an additional cost to it.”

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https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2026/03/26/utilities-warn-of-soaring-costs-related-to-trump-order-for-indiana-coal-plants-to-stay-open/