Third DOE Coal Order: $195,000 Per Day, Costs Heading to Ratepayers

On June 18th, the Department of Energy issued its third consecutive 90-day renewal under Section 202(c), keeping NIPSCO's R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Jasper County and CenterPoint's F.B. Culley plant in Warrick County online through September 19th. The Sierra Club estimates the combined cost at $174,000 per day for Schahfer and $21,000 per day for Culley. FERC has already authorized MISO tariff changes letting both utilities recover those costs from ratepayers.

The detail that should concern industrial customers: NIPSCO's Schahfer Units 17 and 18 are currently offline for turbine and boiler work. NIPSCO's own communications put the completion target in Q3. Total compliance costs are still being evaluated.

Mark September 19th. DOE will face a fourth renewal decision entering fall shoulder season, and MISO's own capacity projections show a deficit growing from 1.4 gigawatts in 2027 to 8.2 gigawatts by 2030. The order designed to prevent a near-term reliability crisis may be delaying the capacity additions needed to prevent a longer-term one.