INDIANAPOLIS -- According to a new Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission report, Indiana ranks 28th nationwide in terms of average electric bill costs. The report, presented to the Utilities Interim Study Committee on Thursday, also showed renewable energy sources have steadily continued to replace coal in powering Indiana’s electrical grid over the last decade. McCormick/Goodin campaign releases ‘common sense’ utility affordability plan ”We had a really good run when we were using coal, and it was cheap—coal is very expensive now,” said State Rep. Ed Soliday (R-Valparaiso), the House Utilities Chair. The report shows in 2014, coal generated 75% of Indiana’s electricity. In 2023, it only powered 40%. ”We’re transitioning from coal; that costs a lot of money,” said State Rep. Soliday. Earlier this month, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita released an analysis suggesting the IURC could keep coal plants from shutting down early. However, State Rep. Soliday said he thinks those decisions should be left up to the businesses. “We need legislation, and I think it’s there, but we need to clarify what’s useful life,” said State Rep. Soliday. The IURC also said the construction of large-scale data centers is causing concerns about the reliability and cost of the state’s electrical grid. ”I think it’s up to the data center industry to prove exactly how much utility cost, energy cost, that they’re going to use, and I do think we need to pause,” said State Sen. J.D. Ford (D-Indianapolis). Last week, the Citizens Action Coalition (CAC) called on the General Assembly to pause these projects. ”What we need to do is improve policies around getting renewable energy online more quickly to ensure…we’re not doing [it] at the expense of our pocketbooks by keeping expensive coal plants online,” said Kerwin Olson, the CAC’s Executive Director. Hundreds make impact for AES Indiana’s 14th Annual Day in the Parks Community Service Day During Thursday’s meeting, Purdue University researchers said they were still looking into how data centers affect utility costs. State Rep. Soliday said the state is considering “fast-tracked” government-approved permission slips for large businesses that explicitly state their individual energy needs. “If they can afford to build a data center, they can afford to assume part of the risk, so that’s already going on; we’re just planning to put it in statute,” said State Rep. Soliday. The committee decided not to move forward with any official recommendations on Thursday.