September 29, 2026 · Tippecanoe · Madison · Kosciusko · NIPSCO · AES INDIANA · DUKE INDIANA · IM AEP

AES Indiana's Phase 2 Rate Increase Takes Effect in January, No Matter What the SPARK Grid Grant Covers

AES Indiana's Phase 2 rate increase takes effect in January no matter what the SPARK grid grant covers. Here's what Indiana manufacturers need to track now.

Daniel BurkePublished every day

AES Indiana's Phase 2 rate increase takes effect in January regardless of Indiana's new $175 million SPARK grid grant, and the question of who pays for data center transmission capacity is still unresolved at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. Governor Braun announced the federal grant this week to fund upgrades at the PJM-MISO seam, the point where Indiana sits between two regional grids, but that money does not touch the rate case AES Indiana customers in the Indianapolis area are already inside of. The rehearing on Phase 2 runs into early 2027.

AES Indiana's Phase 2 Rate Increase Continues While the SPARK Grant Covers the Seam Upgrade

Indiana secured the SPARK grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to cover roughly half the cost of upgrading transmission lines at the PJM-MISO seam, using reconductoring technology on existing corridors instead of building new lines. Five investor-owned utilities, AES Indiana, CenterPoint, Duke Energy Indiana, NIPSCO, and I&M, carry the other half of that cost, and each will likely seek to recover its share through future rate cases. NIPSCO is already running a $1.64 billion infrastructure plan of its own.

None of that changes what happens in January. AES Indiana's Phase 2 rate increase is already in rehearing at the IURC, that case runs into early 2027, and it takes effect on its own schedule. The grant also does not resolve who pays for the transmission capacity data centers like Meta and Amazon are drawing on. Indiana's own 2026 Strategic Energy Growth Plan is written to avoid a contested rate case over that exact question, and industrial ratepayers are not named in that framing. The cost allocation study mandated under Senate Enrolled Act 422 is where that fight will actually surface, and it is worth having a seat at that table before the allocation gets decided without you.

Nestle Loses $21 Million Tax Reduction Bid in Anderson

The Indiana Tax Court affirmed Madison County's $55 million assessment of Nestle USA's Anderson coffee creamer plant on September 23rd, rejecting Nestle's six-year appeal for tax years 2018 through 2023 and the $21 million reduction the company wanted. Nestle made capital improvements to the facility, and under Indiana's now-repealed burden-shifting statute, that improvement triggered the assessment increase and put the burden on Nestle to disprove the county's number. Nestle could not.

That statute no longer governs new assessments, but if you have an open appeal on a tax year the old statute still covers, this ruling tells you the county can win simply by making you carry that burden. Your documentation needs to stand on its own. Nestle has until approximately October 23rd to petition the Indiana Supreme Court, so the case is not closed.

Slate Auto and Two Orthopedic Suppliers Compete for the Same Warsaw Workers

Slate Auto is headlining the HireKosciusko job fair on October 1st. The company's roughly $400 million Warsaw electric truck plant has hired more than 500 people toward a 2,000-job target, and Paragon Medical and Tecomet, both orthopedic device manufacturers, are exhibiting at the same event.

If you source labor from Kosciusko County, this job fair is a direct read on how tight that market is getting. An EV assembly plant, a surgical implant manufacturer, and a precision machining company are all recruiting from the same room on the same day.

Questions for Your Morning Huddle

Q: Does the SPARK grid grant mean my electric rates are going down? A: No. The grant funds half the cost of PJM-MISO transmission upgrades, but AES Indiana's Phase 2 rate increase is already scheduled for January and moves ahead independent of the grant.

Q: If I have an open property tax appeal in Indiana, does the Nestle ruling affect me? A: Only if your appeal covers tax years still governed by Indiana's now-repealed burden-shifting statute, in which case the county can win by making you disprove its assessed value, so your documentation needs to stand on its own.

Q: Should I worry about hiring competition in Kosciusko County? A: Yes, if you source labor from Warsaw or nearby, the October 1 HireKosciusko job fair puts Slate Auto's EV plant directly against Paragon Medical and Tecomet for the same worker pool.

For more on how Indiana industrial ratepayers can keep from absorbing costs tied to data center growth, see our guide to utility cost allocation for data centers. If you want to understand what it takes to intervene in a rate case like AES Indiana's Phase 2 filing, read our breakdown of utility rate case intervention.

Watch this TEG Daily on YouTube

01Statewide

Gov. Braun's $175M Federal SPARK Grid Grant

Gov. Mike Braun announced last week that Indiana secured a federal SPARK grant from the U.S. Department of Energy totaling more than $175 million, covering roughly half the cost of upgrading existing transmission corridors at the PJM-MISO seam using reconductoring technology instead of new lines. The grant targets grid congestion and reliability at a chokepoint the state says is unique to Indiana as an economy split between two regional grids.

Impact: The five investor-owned utilities on the hook for the 50% cost match: AES Indiana, CenterPoint, Duke Energy Indiana, NIPSCO, and AEP's I&M, aren't equally positioned to absorb it: NIPSCO is already running a $1.64 billion infrastructure plan, had its Schahfer coal plant down for repairs most of 2026, and fields the most IURC consumer complaints in the state. The grant also functions as political cover: it lets Indiana fund seam upgrades without forcing a contested IURC rate case that would pit data-center operators like Meta and Amazon against residential ratepayers over who pays for the transmission capacity those facilities need, a fight the state's 2026 Strategic Energy Growth Plan explicitly warns against.
Watch: The IURC's advanced transmission technologies study mandated under Senate Enrolled Act 422, and whether NIPSCO or AES Indiana file matching cost-recovery requests that reopen the rate conversation.
For the huddle: With data centers projected to exceed 20% of Indiana's electricity demand, should we be pushing for a seat at the table in IURC's large-load cost-allocation proceedings before those infrastructure costs get socialized onto industrial ratepayers?

02Tippecanoe · West Lafayette

Purdue-Illinois Semiconductor Workforce Initiative

Purdue University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign signed an MOU on Sept. 18, 2026, publicly announced Sept. 21, to launch a joint semiconductor workforce initiative covering fab operations, chip design/testing, and advanced packaging. Deans Mark Lundstrom (Purdue) and Rashid Bashir (Illinois) signed the agreement, which will be guided by Purdue's Semiconductor Degrees Leadership Board, more than 30 member companies co-chaired by Keyvan Esfarjani and Anthony Yen.

Impact: Purdue Research Park already has a captive employer roster: SK Hynix's $4 billion advanced-packaging facility, MediaTek's Midwest office, and imec's research hub, that Arizona State and Ohio State can't match without recruiting from distant fabs, giving this pipeline a sharper concentration play than rival programs. But the governance is asymmetric: Illinois is plugging into a board Purdue already convenes and co-chairs, the executive director seat remains vacant, and McKinsey data shows 53% of existing semiconductor workers were considering leaving their jobs in 2023 with a third of the workforce over 55, meaning new grads may simply backfill exits rather than grow net capacity for employers counting on this pipeline.
Watch: The appointment of the initiative's executive director, and whether UIUC students gain access to Purdue Research Park's embedded industry partners or the benefit stays West Lafayette-only.
For the huddle: If SK Hynix's advanced-packaging ramp at Purdue Research Park needs credentialed workers within two to three years, are we positioned to recruit from this pipeline before it gets absorbed by SK Hynix and MediaTek first?

03Madison · Anderson

Indiana Tax Court Sides With Madison County Over Nestle

The Indiana Tax Court affirmed on Sept. 23, 2026 an IBTR ruling upholding Madison County Assessor Larry D. Davis's valuation of Nestle USA's Anderson coffee-creamer and ready-to-drink beverage plant, rejecting Nestle's six-year appeal covering 2018-2023 that sought to cut the assessment from $55 million to $33.9 million. The case, Nestle USA, Inc. v. Madison County Assessor (No. 25T-TA-00020), turned on Indiana's now-repealed burden-shifting statute, Ind. Code § 6-1.1-15-17.2.

Impact: The assessor's winning argument was that Nestle's own capital improvements to the facility triggered the assessment increase, which under the old statute shifted the burden onto Nestle to disprove the higher value, meaning a manufacturer's reinvestment in an aging plant can simultaneously raise its assessed value and weaken its legal position to fight that value. It's also a rare case of a small county (with zero outside attorney fees) beating a Fortune 500 multinational at both the administrative and appellate level, giving other Indiana assessors a precedent to cite against pending appeals from large manufacturers.
Watch: Whether Nestle petitions the Indiana Supreme Court within its 30-day window, running through roughly Oct. 23, 2026.
For the huddle: If capital investment in our Indiana facilities can itself trigger a higher assessment and shift the burden onto us to disprove it, how do we document capex and appraisals now to avoid the trap Nestle just lost on?

04Tippecanoe · West Lafayette

Purdue Opens Rittal/Eplan Engineering Labs

Purdue University, Rittal, and Eplan (sister companies under Germany's Friedhelm Loh Group) cut the ribbon Sept. 15, 2026 on two new labs in Dudley Hall: the Eplan Electrical Engineering Technology Projects Lab and the Rittal Automation Systems Lab. The labs are the first physical build-out of a five-year partnership signed at the Rockwell Automation Fair in Chicago in November 2025, making Purdue Polytechnic the primary U.S. academic partner in the Rittal + Eplan Partner Network.

Impact: The under-reported piece is the joint R&D clause: Purdue's IN-MaC testbed gives Rittal and Eplan a low-cost U.S. sandbox to test North American product configurations and UL 508A compliance workflows without building their own American lab. It also means graduating students arrive pre-configured toward the Friedhelm Loh Group ecosystem rather than competitors like Schneider Electric or nVent's Hoffman brand, though Eplan's overlap with ABB's e-Configure platform gives Purdue grads a de facto multi-vendor skill set neither company has publicized.
Watch: How quickly Purdue integrates the curriculum into internship pipelines, and whether the partnership extends into the Purdue Polytechnic High School network as planned.
For the huddle: With panel-shop and control-cabinet talent now training specifically on the Eplan/Rittal toolchain, should we build a direct recruiting relationship with Purdue Polytechnic before automotive and aerospace employers lock up this graduating class?

05Kosciusko · Warsaw

Slate Auto Headlines HireKosciusko Job Fair

The HireKosciusko Hiring Fair runs 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 1, 2026 at the Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion in Warsaw, sponsored by OrthoWorx alongside the Kosciusko Chamber, KEDCO, Kosciusko County Community Foundation, KHRA, and WorkOne Northern Indiana, with 14 employers including Slate Auto and Zimmer Biomet. Slate Auto has already hired more than 500 people toward a target of up to 2,000 for its roughly $400 million electric pickup plant at the former RR Donnelley/LSC printing site on Old Road 30.

Impact: Zimmer Biomet's January 2026 global workforce 'right-sizing' (structured to stay below WARN-notice thresholds) quietly put skilled ortho-device workers (machining, quality, regulatory) into the Kosciusko labor pool just months before this fair, a non-public factor that may be feeding Slate's confidence in hitting 2,000 hires. With Warsaw's population near 15,800, a full Slate ramp represents a greater-than-10% jump in employed residents, and Slate's wage-competitive assembly jobs could accelerate attrition from orthopedic suppliers Paragon Medical and Tecomet, both also recruiting at the same event.
Watch: Slate Auto's Q4 2026 production ramp timeline and KEDCO's promised disclosure of the incentive package, wages, and hiring dates.
For the huddle: If Slate Auto's wage floor pulls skilled machinists and quality techs out of the orthopedic device supply chain, what's our retention plan for the ortho-adjacent talent we compete for in Kosciusko County?

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