Duke is our state’s largest utility and the furthest behind in transitioning to renewable energy. When I started volunteering with the Sierra Club as a student at IU in 2010, Duke was nearly 100% fossil fuel based. Duke was also one of the last in the nation to be building coal; specifically the Edwardsport coal plant. That unnecessary plant exceeded construction costs by over $2 billion, drove up customers’ bills, involved ethics scandals, and continues to lose customers millions each year. In the last decade, Duke has fought to squash renewable energy at the legislature, climate regulations on the federal level, and to extract as much money as possible from Hoosier communities.
Today, Duke is still generating around 95% of its power with fossil fuels. Despite hearing from over 1,000 customers, and 23 elected officials in 2021 calling for Duke to urgently scale up renewable energy. Duke has built virtually no renewable energy in the last five years. Today, every major electric provider in Indiana owns more solar power than Duke. Duke owns roughly the same amount of wind and solar as Indiana’s smallest utility CenterPoint - who provides roughly one-sixth the amount of power.
Across the state, Sierra Club has fought alongside communities to move us closer to renewable energy - and we’ve been winning - now every major electric provider in Indiana except for Duke will have essentially exited coal by 2030. In 2030, Duke would be the dirtiest in the state, still using coal for about HALF of its electric generation, missing a critical deadline to avoid the worst possible outcomes of the climate crisis. Only 30% of Duke’s energy mix would be wind and solar - NIPSCO would be 66%, CenterPoint 81% and AES would be approaching 50%. NIPSCO, AES, and CenterPoint all claim that a transition away from fossil fuels will save customers hundreds and millions of dollars. This tracks with Duke’s own data from recent planning processes (2021 20-Year Energy Plan and 2022/23 Refresh) - which indicated that retiring coal by 2030 and scaling up renewable energy would save customers money.
Duke’s main focus remains driving up customers' bills to prop up coal - with the 2024 proposed rate increase pouring hundreds of millions of customer dollars into uneconomic coal plants. In the rate case, Duke wants customers to foot the bill for: over $246 million for projects at the coal plants, delays in coal retirements on several units, burning MORE coal from now until 2029, coal ash dump clean up costs and more. Once again, Duke is dead set on being one of the last utilities in the nation to be doubling down on coal - in a cruel effort to extract money from Hoosiers.
According to Citizens Action Coalition, Duke wants to raise the average residential customer's bills by $42 a month by 2026 (a 33% increase); all customers will see an increase including schools, cities, faith communities, and businesses which will further burden Hoosiers. Duke’s greed is obvious - Duke earned $497 million in profit in 2023. In this rate case Duke is proposing the highest shareholder profit margin in the state!
It’s time for our communities to rise up and demand Duke’s rate increase be OPPOSED. All Hoosiers deserve affordable, renewable energy and healthy and thriving communities. We can’t wait one more minute for Duke to get moving. To secure this future, we must stop Duke’s dirty plans to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into coal.
Oppose the increase now at sc.org/dukeistheworst
Click here to let us know if you can attend upcoming public hearings:
- Terre Haute: Tuesday, June 4 at 6:00 PM (Ivy Tech Community College in the Oakley Auditorium) (8000 S Education Drive, Terre Haute, IN 47802)
- Bloomington: Thursday, June 20, 6:00 PM (Monroe Convention Center in the Olcott Young Room) (302 South College Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47403)
- Fishers: Thursday, June 27 at 5:00 PM (Hamilton East Public Library in the East/Center Rooms) (5 Municipal Drive, Fishers, IN 46038);
- Details TBA for New Albany.
Help us reach more Hoosiers! You can volunteer from home to help us make calls to Sierra Club supporters to alert them to upcoming public hearings, or volunteer in your communities at booths at local events, and much more. Sign-up to volunteer and RSVP for an upcoming Outreach Workshop: Sign-up here.
More information at bit.ly/takeactionwithus24, including a link to Citizens Action Coalition’s recorded webinar about the rate case. Questions? Contact Megan Anderson, Senior Field Organizer, Sierra Club; megan.anderson@sierraclub.org
- Take action on social media:
- Facebook: @IndianaBeyondCoal
- Twitter: @INBeyondCoal
- Instagram: @indianabeyondcoal
- Hashtags: #Dukeistheworst #RepowerIndiana
Megan Anderson, Senior Field Organizer, Sierra Club