Dive Summary:

• Duke Energy Indiana has asked the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission for permission to charge its ratepayers for retrofits to three coal-fired power plants.
• The upgrades are being made in order to company with imminent federal environmental regulations.
• Local environmental groups have argued to the commission that Duke should invest in natural gas, energy efficiency, and other options instead of retrofitting the plants.

From the article:

The commission is currently considering Duke’s request to pass on about $400 million worth of pollution control investments to ratepayers for its Cayuga, Gibson and Gallagher coal plants, as phase two of an ongoing retrofit program. Duke told the commission it plans to close a fourth coal plant, the Wabash River station, though there is a possibility one of its units would be retrofitted as a natural gas plant. The average age of the four coal plants is 45 years.

A Duke fact sheet says the requested phase two investments would mean less than a one percent rate increase in 2013-2014, scaling up to a 6.3 percent rate increase by 2017. In filings the company also indicated it would seek about $945 million for phase three of the retrofit project, possibly in coming months. ...