AES Indiana's industrial customers already negotiated a separate settlement before this rate case closed. Does our facility's contract fall under that protection or the residential rate track?

Check with your AES account representative which settlement track covers your rate class, since the industrial group's deal was struck separately from the residential rehearing now scheduled for March, and residential customers are currently carrying more of the disputed increase.

NIPSCO and CenterPoint are billing ratepayers tens of millions of dollars a quarter to keep retired coal units running under federal must-run orders. How much of that cost recovery lands on our industrial rate class?

NIPSCO alone is seeking $38 million in quarterly recovery tied to its Schahfer units, and these costs typically flow through a rider or tracker line item rather than the base rate, so ask your account representative to identify that specific charge on your bill.

Winnebago is consolidating RV production onto a single Middlebury campus while cross-border tariffs squeeze its input costs. Are we similarly dependent on single-site suppliers who could face the same kind of consolidation pressure?

Review your supplier list for any vendor, such as Lippert Components or Patrick Industries, whose northern Indiana capacity is now tied to one customer's internal brand strategy, and confirm you have a backup source if that customer's production plans change.

Manufacturing News TEG Daily

October 17, 2026 · Marion · Morgan · Lake · NIPSCO · AES INDIANA · DUKE INDIANA

AES Indiana Rate Hike Fight Collides With $737 Million Google Data Center Deal

IURC approved AES Indiana's $737M Google data center deal the same week its $71M rate hike headed back to court. What Indiana manufacturers should watch now.

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Indiana's utility regulator approved a $737 million infrastructure plan for Google's new Monrovia data center on October 7, the same week it was still working through a rehearing on the AES Indiana rate hike that already raised bills for more than 500,000 Indianapolis-area customers. Manufacturers, hospitals, and school systems in AES territory are paying into one case while a hyperscaler locks in contract protections most C&I accounts will never see. Here is what changed this week across five fronts, and what to put in front of your team.

01Marion

AES Indiana Rate Hike Rehearing Set for Early March

AES Indiana, the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, Citizens Action Coalition, the city of Indianapolis, and a group of industrial customers have agreed to a one-day hearing in early March to reconsider the $71 million base rate increase the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved 3-1 in June. Customers are already paying both phases regardless of the outcome: phase one added under $1 a month starting July 27 for a household using 1,000 kilowatt-hours, and phase two, arriving in January, adds roughly $8.50 a month. For comparison, CenterPoint customers absorbed a 25% increase (about $44 a month) and Duke Energy Indiana customers saw a 20% increase (about $26 a month) in 2025, both larger dollar increases than AES's case.

Impact: This is the most politically charged of five simultaneous Indiana utility rate fights -- CenterPoint customers absorbed a 25% ($44/month) jump and Duke Energy Indiana customers saw 20% ($26/month) increases in 2025, both larger than AES's -- yet AES draws the most fire because a BlackRock-led consortium (with CalPERS and Qatar Investment Authority) is simultaneously acquiring its parent company. Industrial customers already negotiated their own separate settlement before the June order, meaning residential ratepayers are effectively subsidizing industrial power costs while this $71 million case is just a preview: AES has already filed a second, much larger $193 million rate case citing data center demand.
Watch: The one-day hearing scheduled for early March 2026, and whether the IURC's parallel review folds in evidence from the pending $193 million AES rate case.
For the huddle: If AES's industrial customers already locked in a separate rate settlement before this fight started, do we know whether our own facility is covered by that protection or exposed to the residential rate track instead?

SourcesIndiana challenges AES $71M rate hike as bigger power bills hit before rehearing (thecooldown.com)

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02Morgan

IURC Approves AES-Google $737 Million Monrovia Data Center Plan

The commission unanimously approved AES Indiana's plan to build $737.3 million in solar, battery storage, and transmission infrastructure to serve a 390-megawatt Google data center in Monrovia, Morgan County. This is the first case decided under Indiana's 2025 large-load law, House Enrolled Act 1007, under which large-load customers must bear a minimum of 80% of the costs allocated to them. Generation comes from three projects built by Invenergy and AES across Pike, Lake, and Clinton counties, connected by a new 10-mile, 345-kilovolt line.

Impact: This order is the first live test of Indiana's 'hyperscaler-pays' framework, and the $73.8 million rate-base decision sets the cost-allocation template every future HEA 1007 filing will cite -- Citizens Action Coalition's Ben Inskeep already flagged it as the precedent that matters more than this single case. It also arrives while the IURC is simultaneously reconsidering AES's base rate case tied to the BlackRock-led acquisition of its parent, giving regulators unusual leverage over deal terms mid-acquisition; meanwhile NiSource is countering with its own Amazon (3 GW) and Microsoft (1,100 MW) deals, meaning AES doesn't have a monopoly on Indiana's data center buildout.
Watch: The IURC's rate-case rehearing continuing into 2027, which will weigh evidence tied to both the Monrovia deal and the BlackRock acquisition.
For the huddle: Google locked in a 15-year minimum contract with a $300 million fixed-cost floor and 100% cost coverage above the statutory 80% minimum -- could our facility negotiate similar large-load protections under HEA 1007, or are we too small to get AES's attention the way Google did?

SourcesIndiana approves AES plan to power Google data center in Monrovia (wfyi.org)

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03Statewide

Winnebago Cuts 51 More Jobs in Forest City as Middlebury Consolidation Lands in Indiana

Winnebago Industries filed a WARN notice on October 9 for 51 more layoffs at its Forest City, Iowa plant, effective November 9, bringing the plant's 2026 total to 78 cuts and following 311 layoffs tied to last year's closures in Charles City and Waverly. The company cited falling consumer demand and high dealer inventory. The cuts follow an August announcement that Winnebago is consolidating all of its towable RV production onto its Middlebury, Indiana campus while moving class B camper van production from Lake Mills to Forest City, and new U.S.-Canada tariffs on plywood, plastics, and wiring are adding to input costs on both sides of the border.

Impact: Winnebago holds just 4-8% of the global RV market against Thor Industries' 40%+ share and Forest River's Berkshire-backed scale, meaning its restructuring reflects competitive weakness as much as tariff pressure -- its FY2026 guidance was already cut roughly 25% at the midpoint before the late-August Canada tariff escalation fully hit input costs. For Indiana specifically, consolidating Winnebago Towables onto the Grand Design campus in Middlebury -- while keeping the two as separate brands with separate dealer networks -- concentrates order flow to northern Indiana suppliers like Lippert Components and Patrick Industries, but also creates channel-conflict risk if dealers start cross-shopping both lines off the same lot.
Watch: Winnebago's Q4 earnings call on October 21, which should clarify whether the North American wholesale shipment forecast (already cut from 330,000 to 300,000 units) continues falling.
For the huddle: If Winnebago Towables and Grand Design RV are sharing one Middlebury campus as separate brands, are our own supplier contracts with Lippert, Patrick Industries, or similar northern Indiana vendors exposed to a single customer's internal brand conflict?

SourcesMore layoffs hit iconic Iowa manufacturer amid restructuring, tariffs (desmoinesregister.com)

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04Jasper · Warrick

EPA Rolls Back Power Plant Rules While NIPSCO and CenterPoint Keep Coal Running Past Retirement

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin finalized what he called the largest power sector deregulatory action in U.S. history on September 17, repealing most of the Biden-era carbon standards for fossil fuel power plants and claiming $300 billion in national savings. Governor Mike Braun and IDEM Commissioner Clint Woods both called the rollback a positive development for Hoosiers, while the Sierra Club's Indiana chapter called it the removal of essential public health protections, and national environmental groups have already filed suit. The rollback lands while NIPSCO's Schahfer coal units in Jasper County and CenterPoint's Culley units in Warrick County are already running past their planned retirement dates under a fourth straight 90-day federal must-run order, extended through December 18.

Impact: The deregulation lands while NIPSCO's Schahfer coal units (Jasper County) and CenterPoint's Culley units (Warrick County) are already running past their planned retirement dates under a fourth consecutive 90-day federal must-run order through December 18 -- NIPSCO alone spent $116.7 million in Q1 2026 to keep Schahfer running while recovering only $33.5 million in electricity sales, and is now seeking $38 million in quarterly cost recovery from ratepayers. The deeper tension the article doesn't spell out: EPA is simultaneously arguing, using the Loper Bright and West Virginia v. EPA precedents, that the Clean Air Act's Section 111 can't regulate greenhouse gases at all -- a legal theory that, if it holds, would permanently foreclose any future administration from reinstating these rules without new legislation from Congress.
Watch: The December 18 deadline for renewing the DOE's must-run order on Indiana coal units, and the D.C. Circuit case where 21 states are challenging the rollback.
For the huddle: With NIPSCO already billing ratepayers over $100 million a quarter to keep Schahfer's coal units running past retirement under federal must-run orders, how much of that cost recovery is flowing through to our own industrial rate class?

SourcesFeds roll back climate change regulations at Indiana power plants (yahoo.com)

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05Lake

Indiana American Water Finishes $24.5 Million Gary Main Overhaul

Indiana American Water announced October 6 that it has largely finished a $24.5 million Gary initiative that laid roughly 10,000 feet of new water main, enlarging pipe over 70 years old-previously 16 and 20 inches-to sizes ranging from 24 to 36 inches, while also swapping out more than 100 lead service lines. Rex Construction built the project and DLZ handled design and inspection, with only one last connection still remaining at the Borman Park Water Treatment Plant. The upsized mains feed the Borman Park distribution zone that serves U.S. Steel Gary Works, ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, and Cleveland-Cliffs Burns Harbor, and U.S. Steel's announced restart of its Gary Tin Mill, which brings back 225 jobs, means process-water and fire-flow demand in that corridor is growing rather than holding steady.

Impact: The upsized mains feed the Borman Park distribution zone that serves U.S. Steel Gary Works, ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, and Cleveland-Cliffs Burns Harbor -- and U.S. Steel's announced restart of its Gary Tin Mill (225 jobs) means industrial fire-flow and process-water demand in this corridor is growing, not shrinking, making the capacity bump commercially relevant beyond simple pipe replacement. The lead-line replacements also aren't just a goodwill add-on: under Indiana's Distribution System Improvement Charge rules, lead service line costs are carved out of the normal 10% surcharge cap, giving Indiana American a structural incentive to bundle as many lead-line swaps as possible into active capital projects like this one.
Watch: Whether Indiana American's next rate case folds in costs from its February 2026 acquisition of Community Utilities of Indiana, which expanded the customer base this same Gary transmission main now serves.
For the huddle: With U.S. Steel restarting its Gary Tin Mill and the Borman Park service zone upsizing its mains specifically for flow and fire-protection capacity, have we confirmed our own facility's water and fire-flow needs are reflected in the utility's current planning?

SourcesIndiana American Water Completes $24.5 Million Water Main Infrastructure Project in Northwest Indiana (prnewswire.com)

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