Published: March 5, 2020 |

Rep. Ed Soliday,
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A controversial Indiana bill that investor-owned utilities denounced for potentially increasing ratepayers’ power costs and extending the life of coal-powered electricity, on Thursday passed a state Senate committee with significant changes they find more favorable.

House Bill 1414, authored by Republican state Rep. Edmond Soliday, chairman of the state’s energy task force, on Feb. 27 garnered passage by the Indiana Senate Utilities Committee, 8-2, thanks to an amendment authored by GOP state Sen. Jim Merritt, chairman of the Utilities Committee.

“The way the bill came into my committee, I could not support it,” Merritt told reporters after the Senate vote.

Among the changes to HB 1414 made by Merritt’s amendment is one to hasten the expiration of the date of the bill from May 2021 to Dec. 31, 2020, for utilities to phase out coal-based power generation.

The original date in HB 1414 prompted critics to cite it as a “coal bailout” bill that would have delayed plant retirements, which already are being driven by the increased use of alternative energy sources.

For instance, according to Advanced Energy Economy, the state’s coal plants are expected to close as they become uncompetitive with more cost-effective advanced energy resources, including wind, solar, storage, and demand-side resources.

In fact, coal mines in Indiana already are closing down quickly, according to several groups, with the state having 26 active coal-burning power units in 2010 compared to just 13 in 2016.

That reality ultimately forced coal companies to start pressuring the Indiana legislature to authorize a bill that would make it harder for utilities to transition to cleaner energy resources. And when Soliday sponsored HB 1414, he said the bill was necessary to make Indiana “more thoughtful” about how the closing of its coal-fired power plants were impacting the state.

Source: Daily Energy Insider

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