Edward Smith, edward.smith@sierraclub.org
Indianapolis, IN – Duke not only scored the worst among the five Indiana utilities evaluated, it tied for last place among all utilities throughout the country in the Sierra Club’s updated Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges report that was released today. Duke’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels and lack of clean energy investments earned it a 0% (F) in the report while AES Indiana scored 56% (B), CenterPoint Energy scored 59% (B), Indiana Michigan Power scored 66% (B), and the North Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) scored 82% (A).
The Sierra Club assigned utilities scores based on their plans in three areas: 1) commitments to retire coal by 2030, 2) plans to build gas through 2035, and 3) plans to build or purchase clean energy by 2035. The score is on a scale of 0 to 100, with a utility earning points by committing to retire coal and adding clean energy and losing points by adding new gas.
In an interactive webpage, users can see their utility’s score and what progress–if any–the utility has made toward transitioning to cleaner, more affordable energy since the first version of the report in 2021. Duke Indiana is the only Duke subsidiary to regress from its 2021 score, whereas the utility’s operations in the Carolinas, Florida, and Kentucky have seen slight score improvements.
“Duke's energy plan is among the worst in the country, and that’s bad news not just because it locks in high electric bills for customers due to volatile fuel costs, it hurts our state’s efforts to attract and retain businesses with climate goals,” said Robyn Skuya-Boss, Director of the Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club. “Moving from coal to clean energy is possible in our state, but Stan Pinegar and his team are holding Hoosiers back and they need to do better.”
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 continues to reduce the cost of clean energy while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. Wind and solar energy overtook coal in power generation through the first half of 2024 and are expected to continue their progress for the rest of the year, a major milestone for the power sector.
Duke’s latest preferred energy plan, released earlier this month, marks a substantial shift from its previous major update in 2021. Duke slashed 3,798 megawatts of clean energy investments and delayed a company-wide exit from coal from 2035 to 2038 by extending the life of its Gibson coal plant in southwest Indiana. This is a huge departure from Duke's 2021 energy plan, where the utility proposed shutting down unit 5 at the Gibson coal plant by 2025 and units 3 and 4 by 2029. Additionally, Duke’s 2021 energy plan proposed 4,697 megawatts of wind, solar, and storage by 2035. In Duke’s new plan, between now and 2035, the utility will only install 499 megawatts of solar and 400 megawatts of battery storage, for a combined total of 899 megawatts of new clean energy.
Duke will actually be 100 megawatts lighter on wind energy by the end of the decade because it will let a power purchase agreement expire, and the utility has no plan to invest in new wind energy between now and 2036. Duke will also make zero investments in solar or battery storage from 2031 through 2035 according to its latest preferred energy plan.
“Duke really is the worst with almost no renewable energy in its energy mix today, and the utility’s new energy plan drastically slashes new renewable energy investments over the next decade,” said Megan Anderson, Sierra Club’s Senior Organizer in Indiana. “Duke’s slick public relations is meant to hide its commitment to the Edwardsport money-pit while extending the use of coal at the Gibson plant until 2038, the largest coal plant in Indiana and an ongoing threat to public health,” she added.
Although clean energy is less expensive than 99 percent of existing coal and new gas generation, only 20 of the 75 utilities assessed have plans to be entirely coal-free by 2030. Duke is the only Indiana utility in the report without a plan to be coal-free by the end of the decade. The utilities in the report also plan to build 93 GW of new gas capacity through 2035. More companies are planning new gas plants, and the amount of planned gas per year is higher than in any previous version of our report, indicating a troubling trend among utilities.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.