HB1414 Background

Please contact Gov. Holcomb and tell him to VETO HB1414!

You can follow the progress of HB1414 on our 2020 Consumer, Energy, and Utility Bill Watch List.

House Bill 1414 obstructs Indiana’s electric utilities’ ability to retire their dirty, expensive, and outdated coal-fired power plants. It is designed to keep Indiana in the dark ages by delaying and obstructing our transition to clean energy.

It is a deliberate attempt by the coal interests to convince Indiana lawmakers to use the heavy hand of government to interfere with the markets and protect Indiana’s fleet of coal-fired power plants. The effort is being led by Alliance Coal, Hallador Energy, and White Stallion Energy, who have recently been aggressively peddling their influence and money at the Indiana Statehouse.  

HB1414 would effectively delay, and possibly prevent the electric utilities from retiring, or otherwise removing from their generation mix, any coal-fired power plant located in Indiana. The bill accomplishes this by requiring the utilities to file notice with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) of their intent to retire a coal plant, and by requiring that the IURC hold a public hearing and issue “findings and conclusions” that the retirement of the coal plant is “reasonable."

These requirements would create a litigated proceeding before the IURC. The purpose for this is so that the coal interests can use this adversarial process to oppose any retirement, and drag the issue out at the IURC and through the courts. This would cost both the utilities and their customers extraordinary sums of money, and will most certainly further delay the transition to cheaper and cleaner resources, like solar and wind.  

HB1414 will effectively guarantee that captive Hoosier electric customers will continue to face ENORMOUS increases in their monthly utility bills. 

HB1414 would also add a new term into Indiana law, “reliable capacity resource.” As defined in the bill, only a coal-fired power plant located in Indiana would meet the definition of a “reliable capacity resource.” This means that battery storage, demand side management, energy efficiency, solar, wind, and even a gas-fired power plant, would not qualify as a “reliable capacity resource.” This is an important detail for several reasons.

• First, HB1414 would require that the electric utilities spend untold sums of money continuing to maintain and upgrade any “reliable capacity resource” owned by the utility, even if the costs associated with those efforts exceed the cost of replacing those plants with other, cheaper resources. It is well understood, and has been widely covered, that in most cases, the continued operation of existing coal-fired plants is now more expensive than shutting them down and transitioning to cleaner and cheaper resources.  

  Indeed, NIPSCO (Northern Indiana Public Service Company) recently announced that they are retiring all of their coal-fired power plants and replacing them with a combination of solar, battery storage, and wind. According to NIPSCO, this decision will save ratepayers $4 BILLION over the next 20 years. Should HB1414 become law, the coal interests would have the opportunity to reverse NIPSCO’s decision and would force NISPCO customers to pay more on their electric bills than even NIPSCO wants. 

   

• Second, HB1414 would provide the electric utilities the opportunity to charge ratepayers for up to a 90-day supply of coal. Traditionally, utilities are allowed to collect from ratepayers for up to a 45-day supply of coal, which is more than enough to ensure there is enough coal on hand to generate energy. Duke Energy Indiana alone burns over $1.5 MILLION of coal per day! There is absolutely no need to bilk ratepayers for an extra 45 days of coal, merely to enrich the billionaire coal executives. This will unnecessarily and unjustly raise costs on Hoosier consumers who are already struggling to make ends meet.