HB 1007 and the SMR Cost Risk Indiana Manufacturers Need to Track

Indiana's grid summit in Columbus on July 29th produced a moment that every Indiana ratepayer should know about. More than 200 people attended the 2026 Indiana Ag Policy Summit, where Indiana Secretary of Energy and Natural Resources Suzanne Jaworowski and IURC Commissioner Bob Deig held a fireside chat. When the audience was asked to describe Indiana's energy future in one word, the top answers were "expensive," "uncertain," "complex," and "corrupt."

Deig acknowledged that aging gas lines, transmission lines, and substations are driving rate increases. Jaworowski framed roughly 60 proposed hyperscale data center projects (Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft) as an investment opportunity, pointing to House Enrolled Act 1007, which requires large-load customers to reimburse at least 80 percent of new generation and transmission costs built to serve them.

Here is what the Citizens Action Coalition flagged, and why it matters to you: utilities are not required to invoke that 80 percent provision. Which means Indiana manufacturers could absorb the remaining 20 percent of new infrastructure costs, plus SMR development expenses, through Indiana's Construction Work in Progress statute. CWIP allows utilities to bill ratepayers before a single reactor is built, even if the project is later cancelled. The NuScale-UAMPS cancellation in 2023, where costs tripled to $9.3 billion before the project collapsed, is the cautionary case SMR skeptics point to. Whether Indiana projects follow that trajectory is unknown. Under CWIP, ratepayers carry the exposure either way.

One more context point: Secretary Jaworowski also chairs Governor Braun's Nuclear Indiana Coalition, which is actively recruiting SMR investment to the state. That dual role was not disclosed in the summit's fireside-chat framing. Indiana ratepayers should factor that in when reading her generation-mix pitch.

The specific filing to watch is the AES Indiana IURC docket filed in April. How the Commission rules on whether the 80 percent reimbursement is mandatory or discretionary will set the precedent for every data center proceeding in this state. Get someone tracking that docket now.