April 24, 2026 · Kosciusko · Jasper
Warsaw EV Plant, Record PJM Capacity Prices, and the Schaeffer Coal Fight: Indiana Electricity Costs in 2026 Are Not a Background Line Item Anymore
A Warsaw EV plant, record PJM capacity prices, and the Schaeffer coal fight are reshaping Indiana electricity costs and labor for manufacturers in 2026.
Three developments are converging to reshape Indiana electricity costs and labor competition for manufacturers through at least 2027: a 2,000-job EV assembly plant arriving in Kosciuszko County, record PJM capacity auction results stacking on top of already-approved Indiana rate hikes, and a federal court battle that will determine whether NIPSCO customers in northwestern Indiana carry the full cost of keeping an aging coal plant online under DOE emergency orders. Each one changes your cost structure on its own. Together, they require a clear-eyed budget view, not assumptions based on last year's bills.
Slate Auto's Warsaw Plant: A New Labor Competitor and a Major New Grid Load
Slate Auto, a Michigan-based EV startup, is taking over the former R.R. Donnelly printing complex at 2801 West Old Road 30 in Warsaw, 1.4 million square feet, more than 2,000 jobs targeted, and up to 150,000 vehicles per year once fully ramped, with initial manufacturing planned for late 2026. For manufacturers already competing for welders, maintenance technicians, electricians, and production supervisors across northern Indiana, that ramp directly tightens the skilled labor pool and will push wages higher. On the power side, a 1.4-million-square-foot EV assembly operation with paint lines, compressed air, battery conditioning, and thermal management adds a serious new industrial load to the local system, one that influences substation plans and transformer loading in that corridor for years.
PJM Capacity Prices and Indiana Electricity Costs: The Stack Is Real
PJM's July 2025 capacity auction for the June 2026-May 2027 delivery year cleared at $329.17 per megawatt-day, up from roughly $28 per megawatt-day two years earlier. That prior jump drove an estimated 30% bill increase for approximately 65 million customers in PJM territory; the 2026-2027 result adds another estimated 5% on top of that. Indiana straddles two grids: most of the state, Duke, AES Indiana, NIPSCO, Centerpoint, sits in MISO, while Indiana-Michigan Power and northeast Indiana are in PJM. On the retail side, Duke customers are absorbing roughly an 11% overall increase in two steps; NIPSCO residential customers are seeing approximately 16.75% phased in; and AES Indiana's stacked approved and requested increases could push customers toward 20% total by end of 2026 when grid projects and new storage are included. Commercial and industrial tariffs follow the same trend line, often higher in percentage terms than residential.
The Schaeffer Coal Fight: Who Pays, and How Much, Depends on a Federal Court
NIPSCO's Schaeffer Units 17 and 18 in Jasper County, roughly 847 megawatts of combined coal-fired capacity, had already received MISO's sign-off for retirement when the Department of Energy used emergency authority under Section 202(c) to order them kept available beginning December 23, 2025. A second DOE extension through June 21, 2026 followed in March. Operating those units under the initial 90-day orders ran over $20.6 million, with potential costs approaching $34 million if orders continue rolling. NIPSCO asked FERC to spread those costs broadly across the MISO North and Central subregions, an 11-state footprint, and FERC approved that tariff change in March 2026. Attorneys general from Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota, along with the Organization of MISO States, are now challenging that decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. If the court upholds the allocation, Schaeffer costs diffuse across MISO, softening the per-customer hit but adding another line to your long-term cost stack. If the court overturns it, NIPSCO customers in northwestern Indiana absorb more of that burden locally, on top of the roughly 17.75% residential rate increase already approved, and a significantly higher commercial rate increase already in effect.
Questions for Your Morning Huddle
Q: How will Slate Auto's Warsaw plant affect labor and electricity costs for Indiana manufacturers? A: Slate's 2,000-person ramp in Kosciuszko County will pull directly on welders, electricians, maintenance technicians, and production supervisors across northern Indiana, tightening the skilled labor pool and pushing wages higher before the plant reaches full production. On the electricity side, a 1.4-million-square-foot EV assembly operation adds a substantial new industrial load to the local grid that will influence how the utility plans infrastructure investment in that corridor.
Q: What do the PJM capacity auction results mean for Indiana electricity costs in 2026 and 2027? A: If any of your facilities or key suppliers sit in PJM territory, Indiana-Michigan Power, northeast Indiana, expect roughly another 5% increase on top of your approved retail rate hikes. Facilities in MISO face their own rate case stack: Duke, NIPSCO, and AES Indiana are all in motion with increases ranging from 11% to potentially 20% by end of 2026, and the capacity cost trend in MISO is pointing the same direction as PJM.
Q: How could the Schaeffer coal cost allocation ruling change what NIPSCO territory manufacturers pay? A: If the D.C. Circuit upholds FERC's decision, Schaeffer operating costs spread across 11 states, limiting the incremental hit per Indiana customer. If the court overturns it, NIPSCO territory customers in northwestern Indiana carry more of that cost locally, stacked directly on top of the commercial rate increases already in place. Either way, watch for procedural updates out of the D.C. Circuit and track how often DOE continues using Section 202(c) authority on other plants across the region.
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