Indiana's Utility Consumer Counselor has formally accused Duke Energy Indiana of an $89 million overcharge affecting 890,000 customers — and the IURC ruling ahead could set a precedent for every investor-owned utility in the state. That's the lead story in today's TEG Daily alongside a West Lafayette semiconductor groundbreaking that's about to pressure your engineering talent pipeline, seven consecutive months of Indiana job losses with early turn signals in ISM data, and four Toyota suppliers shutting down simultaneously in July with a single-point-of-failure that could stop two Indiana assembly plants at once. June 18, 2026.

Duke Energy Indiana $89M Overcharge: Utility Consumer Counselor Files IURC Appeal

Indiana Utility Consumer Counselor Abby Gray has filed a formal appeal before the full five-member IURC panel, accusing Duke Energy Indiana of over-collecting more than $89 million from customers across 69 counties. The mechanism is a clerical error: the IURC approved a revenue increase of $295.7 million in last year's rate case, but the written order accidentally stated $396 million — and Duke's compliance filings targeted $384.7 million. The Citizens Action Coalition and a coalition of large industrial ratepayers have joined the appeal. Duke has filed a notice of intent not to respond, forcing the commission to rule without rebuttal.

The concern here runs well past one clerical error. A ruling in Duke's favor keeps the door open for NIPSCO, CenterPoint, AES Indiana, and I&M to invoke the same logic in future compliance disputes. Annual forward exposure for Duke's industrial customers is $86 million if rates are not corrected. If you operate in Duke's 69-county service territory, confirm whether your facility has standing to join the industrial coalition in Cause No. 46038 before that ruling lands.

SK Hynix West Lafayette Groundbreaking Creates a Talent Competition Indiana Hasn't Seen Before

SK Hynix broke ground on a $3.87 billion advanced packaging and R&D hub at Purdue Research Park in April, and the story keeps developing. The company has begun shipping first samples of its 12-layer HBM4E memory and is targeting a Nasdaq listing that could raise up to $26.5 billion. Mass production at the Indiana facility targets the second half of 2028, with 800 to 1,000 projected jobs skewing heavily toward high-wage semiconductor engineers.

That puts the Lafayette corridor in direct competition with TSMC in Arizona and Intel in Ohio for the same engineering pipeline Indiana manufacturers already depend on. SkyWater Technology is building a $1.8 billion semiconductor fab at Purdue in parallel. Eli Lilly committed an additional $4.5 billion to its Lebanon campus in May. Controls engineers and electrical maintenance technicians are the first two roles to pressure-test against your current retention package — before the competition intensifies, not after you start losing people.

Indiana Labor Market and Toyota Supplier Cluster: Seven Months Down, and Four Plants Going Dark in July

Dr. Uric Dufrene at Indiana University Southeast has documented seven consecutive months of negative year-over-year job changes in Indiana — the longest such streak outside a declared recession since 2003. Manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing are leading the declines. The ISM Manufacturing PMI hit 54.0 in May with new orders at 56.8 — a four-year high. The ISM employment sub-index remains contractionary at 48.6. Orders are recovering before hiring does, and that lag has historically run two to four quarters.

Meanwhile, four Toyota suppliers — in Seymour, Princeton, Terre Haute, and Vincennes — are shutting down simultaneously in July. ADVICS Terre Haute carries the highest risk profile: a delayed restart there is the most direct path to disruptions at both TMMI Princeton and Subaru Lafayette at the same time. War-game your production schedule against a 72-hour ADVICS delay before that window opens.

Questions for Your Morning Huddle

Q: What is the Duke Energy Indiana overcharge case about?
A: Indiana's Utility Consumer Counselor has accused Duke Energy of over-collecting more than $89 million after a clerical error caused Duke's compliance filings to target $384.7 million — significantly above the IURC-approved $295.7 million revenue increase. The full five-member IURC panel is now set to rule, with the outcome potentially affecting how every other Indiana investor-owned utility handles compliance disputes in future rate cases.

Q: How can Indiana industrial customers join the Duke Energy IURC appeal?
A: The formal proceeding is Cause No. 46038 before the IURC, and a coalition of large industrial ratepayers has already intervened. If your facility is in Duke Energy's 69-county Indiana service territory, confirm with legal counsel whether you have standing to participate before the commission rules.

Q: What does the SK Hynix West Lafayette plant mean for Indiana manufacturers?
A: SK Hynix's $3.87 billion facility at Purdue Research Park targets 800 to 1,000 semiconductor engineering jobs — combined with SkyWater's Purdue fab and Eli Lilly's Lebanon expansion, Indiana manufacturers now face direct wage and talent competition in the same technician and controls engineer pipeline they currently depend on.

Indiana's grid, talent pipeline, and supply chain are tightening at the same time. If you want a structured framework for tracking how utility rate decisions, labor dynamics, and grid investment affect your operating costs, start with the TEG Energy Decision Blueprint.

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