Indiana legislative leaders have undertaken various approaches to make sure Indiana remains a state with reliable electricity across all types of utilities. Over the past few months, the utility committee leaders have convened small group meetings with key industry stakeholders to discuss additional approaches to address reliability needs as we see increased demand from data centers, advanced manufacturing, and overall increased usage from all classes of customers.

IEC has been closely involved in those discussions and will continue to have an increased presence with our new director of policy and government relations, Ryan Hadley. The group is looking for ways the state can do its part to ensure reliability is maintained. We anticipate three different policy approaches coming from the group that will likely lead to legislation during the 2025 legislative session.

1. The first will likely include a fast-tracked process for utilities to seek approval to build or acquire generation assets. In Indiana, utilities must seek approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) before building or acquiring generation assets. This is designed to prevent a utility from investing in resources they don’t need to prevent increased costs for consumers. The proposal from the group would create a process that would be an optional tool for utilities looking to bring on generation more quickly for a more specified reason, such as a new large-load customer.
2. Another initiative would be to pass a resolution from Indiana lawmakers urging queue reform at the federal regulatory and grid operator levels. Currently, there is a large backlog of requests to build generation, and queue reform would help speed up the process and weed out speculative proposals that may not ever be built.
3. Finally, there may be some updates to the statute to punctuate the IURC’s authority to ensure reliability in Indiana. The IURC already has the authority to ensure resource adequacy even in light of proposed plant closings. Any legislation that may come would be intended to further assert that authority.