Duke Energy Edwardsport IGCC Plant

Since 2006, Duke has been planning and building one of the most expensive coal plants in US history, and they want us to pay for it.

Since 2006, Duke Energy has been planning and building one of the most expensive coal plants in US history. The project has been shrouded in an ethics controversy and the price tag has soared to $3.55 billion, a cost they want their ratepayers to cover. 

 

A widely publicized ethics scandal exposed in 2010 led to the termination of the President of Duke Indiana, the resignation of a top Duke executive, and the termination of David Lott Hardy, then-Chairman of the IURC.  The scandal also led to former IURC General Counsel Scott Storms being found guilty of ethics violations and the indictment of David Lott Hardy on multiple felony counts of official misconduct. Most of the felony counts had a connection to the regulatory approval of the Edwardsport IGCC.
 
 
The ethics scandal should have spelled certain doom for the IGCC plant.
 

However, in December 2012, the Commission approved a Settlement agreement between Duke Energy and the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) that effectively closes the case on the ethics scandal and forces ratepayers to pay the price for an illegitimate power plant that never should have been approved to begin with!  The Settlement, widely touted as having strong consumer protections, effectively exposes consumers to the likelihood of significant costs in excess of the cap.

 

To date, Duke ratepayers have paid in excess of $600M in financing charges alone for the plant.  

 

That equates to over $13.00 per month! Additional financing costs of at least $320 million and the actual construction costs currently “capped” at $2.595 billion are not included.

 

CAC and our allies remain strident in fighting to protect ratepayers from this blatant act of monopoly utility theft.

 

Every time Duke Energy files to recover more money through their construction work in progress (CWIP) tracker, CAC and its allies will intervene in those cases before the IURC and continue to argue that Duke ratepayers should not have to pay for this plant.


Get involved! Take action and tell the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) that you don’t want to pay for an illegitimate, scandal ridden power plant that we don’t need, can’t afford, and that never should have been approved in the first place!

Read more > 

Current Campaigns

These are the issues of immediate importance we are working on right now.