Manufacturing News
September 23, 2026
September 23, 2026 · Warrick County · Story 3 of 4
NIPSCO Coal Retention Costs: What Indiana Manufacturers Are Paying to Keep Old Units Running
Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed a fourth consecutive Section 202(c) emergency order on September 18th, requiring NIPSCO's R.M. Schahfer Units 17 and 18 in Wheatfield and CenterPoint's F.B. Culley Unit 2 in Warrick County to remain available through December 18th. That is 951 combined megawatts of coal capacity, 847 at Schahfer and 104 at Culley, running at capacity factors of 17% and 14% respectively.
NIPSCO filed roughly $38 million in FERC cost-recovery for Q1 2026 alone. That implies a daily cost-recovery run rate of approximately $420,000 across the quarter. NIPSCO President and COO Vince Parisi testified before the IURC in March that total Schahfer investment could exceed $100 million.
The Michigan benchmark is the number you need to price this against. Consumers Energy spent $254 million keeping the J.H. Campbell plant online under six DOE orders, recovered $119 million in revenue, and filed to recoup $135 million from MISO ratepayers across 11 states, including Indiana. The allocation formula MISO used to spread Campbell costs across those 11 states is the same framework governing Schahfer recovery. The December 18th expiration is the natural endpoint, given that NIPSCO's new gas capacity serving northern Indiana data centers is set to begin delivery as early as January 2027, which closes the reliability argument DOE has used to justify every renewal. Get someone tracking FERC Docket EL26-36 now. The Q1 ruling sets a per-quarter precedent that compounds.
- Impact
- The Consumers Energy J.H. Campbell precedent is the operator-relevant benchmark: Michigan spent roughly $254 million keeping Campbell online under six successive DOE orders, recovered only $119 million in revenue, and filed to recoup $135 million from MISO ratepayers: a stress-test ceiling for NIPSCO's own FERC recovery bid, and a preview of how Indiana industrial ratepayers get exposed. The cost-allocation mechanism FERC approved spreads NIPSCO's and CenterPoint's 202(c) compliance costs across all 11 MISO Midwest states, meaning if FERC approves the full recovery stack across multiple quarters the surcharge compounds without a defined endpoint, yet FERC's March 2026 approval of the cost-allocation method is legally distinct from approval of actual cost recovery, which must proceed through a separate contested docket where Earthjustice can challenge individual line items. The December 18, 2026 expiration date is also the natural economic endpoint: NIPSCO GenCo's new gas-fired capacity serving Amazon and Alphabet data centers is set to begin delivery as early as January 2027, which closes the marginal reliability window DOE has used to justify each renewal and makes a fifth order significantly harder to defend.
- Watch
- Watch FERC Docket EL26-36 (NIPSCO's $38 million Q1 2026 cost-recovery request) for a ruling that will set the per-quarter recovery precedent and signal the potential compounding liability Indiana industrial ratepayers face if additional quarterly filings follow before December 18.
- For the huddle
What is NIPSCO's coal retention costing Indiana manufacturers right now?
NIPSCO filed roughly $38 million in FERC cost-recovery for Q1 2026 alone, implying a daily cost-recovery run rate of approximately $420,000. NIPSCO President and COO Vince Parisi has testified that total Schahfer investment could exceed $100 million, and MISO's cost-allocation framework can spread that recovery across ratepayers in 11 states, including Indiana manufacturers in NIPSCO territory.
From the brief, September 23, 2026
- POET Bioprocessing Doubles Ethanol Capacity in Shelbyville, Corn Input Contracts Are Now a Risk Variable
- Maple Leaf Foods Consolidates All U.S. Plant Protein Into a Single Indianapolis Facility
- NIPSCO Coal Retention Costs: What Indiana Manufacturers Are Paying to Keep Old Units Running
- I&M 765-kV Transmission Backbone and AES Indiana Rate Increase: Two Separate Bills Landing on the Same Operators
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