Manufacturing News
October 12, 2026
October 12, 2026 · Jasper County · Posey County · Story 2 of 4
NIPSCO's Schahfer Coal Plant Costs Indiana Manufacturers as Mrvan Targets DOE Lifeline Orders
U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan introduced the Utility Affordability and Transparency Act, which would stop the Department of Energy from using emergency orders to keep NIPSCO's R.M. Schahfer plant and CenterPoint's F.B. Culley plant running past their scheduled retirements, and would require DOE cost estimates plus a transparent line item on customer bills. An Earthjustice-commissioned analysis found the first three months of the extensions cost utilities $56 million. The plants are now in their tenth month of extensions, and NIPSCO customers already carry the highest average electric bills in a 2025 statewide survey.
NIPSCO has filed FERC Docket EL2636 asking to recover Schahfer costs across its entire 11-state MISO footprint, not just Indiana, with total retention costs projected to top $1 billion through 2027. The Schahfer units were also offline for repairs for months this year, meaning the DOE order was requiring power from a plant that could not physically produce it, the same defect the D.C. Circuit cited last month when it struck down a parallel order for Michigan's Campbell plant.
- Impact
- NIPSCO has filed FERC Docket EL2636 seeking to recover Schahfer costs across its entire 11-state MISO footprint, effectively asking ratepayers outside Indiana to help cover an Indiana plant that NIPSCO's own Integrated Resource Plan assumed would be retired, while NIPSCO estimates total Schahfer retention costs will top $1 billion through 2027. The underlying contradiction is stark: Schahfer units were offline for repairs for months this year, meaning the DOE's 'emergency' order was legally requiring a plant to stay operational that was physically incapable of generating power, a detail the D.C. Circuit cited when it struck down a parallel order for Michigan's Campbell plant last month.
- Watch
- The pending D.C. Circuit rulings on the Schahfer and Culley orders, and FERC's cost-allocation decision in Docket EL2636.
- For the huddle
If FERC approves full interstate cost recovery in Docket EL2636, have we modeled what that does to our industrial rate next year regardless of how the court cases resolve?
NIPSCO is asking FERC to spread Schahfer costs across its entire 11-state MISO footprint, with total retention costs projected above $1 billion through 2027, so the rate pressure is coming regardless of how the pending court cases resolve.
Sources
- Lifelines for coal plants cost millions. New legislation wants them to end · aol.com
Earlier coverage
- EPA Rolls Back Power Plant Rules While NIPSCO and CenterPoint Keep Coal Running Past Retirement
- Rep. Mrvan Targets DOE Orders Keeping NIPSCO's Schahfer Coal Units Online in Wheatfield
- Indiana Manufacturing Investment Is Concentrating on Vendors and Contractors
- NIPSCO Schahfer: $174,000 Per Day, Both Units Offline
- Third DOE Coal Order: $195,000 Per Day, Costs Heading to Ratepayers
From the brief, October 12, 2026
- ITAMCO's Plymouth Innovation Bid Faces a Notre Dame Clock Colfax Corner Already Started
- NIPSCO's Schahfer Coal Plant Costs Indiana Manufacturers as Mrvan Targets DOE Lifeline Orders
- Tariff-Driven Layoffs in Michigan and Iowa Could Become Indiana's Gain
- Nucor's $105M Crawfordsville Expansion Pairs With Higher Q3 Guidance
This story
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