INDIANAPOLIS — Consumer advocates are asking the Indiana Legislature to oppose an energy bill focused on nuclear power, citing its potential impact on customers' wallets.
House Bill 1007 is one piece of priority legislation for House Republicans this session, as reported on by the Indiana Capital Chronicle earlier this month. The bill focuses on small, modular nuclear reactors. It would create tax credits for manufacturers, and allow public utilities to recover costs on the reactors before getting government approval for the project.
One such reactor project is under consideration for a power plant in Rockport in Southwestern Indiana.
Small modular reactors, according to the Indiana Office of Energy Development, are nuclear reactors that produce 300 megawatts of power or less. They work by taking thermal energy and generating electric power. The Indiana Office of Energy Development says small modular reactors are considered safer because they are smaller, and can include in their design physical barriers or even underground locations.
The bill, authored by Rep. Edmond Soliday, R-Valparaiso, currently sits in the House committee on utilities, energy and telecommunications. Soliday is the chairman of that committee. Evansville Rep. Alex Burton, D-Evansville, is a minority member of the committee.
Tuesday, consumer advocates testified in Indianapolis and asked members to vote no on the legislation. This included Citizens Action Coalition's Kerwin Olsen, and Christopher Norrick of Direct Action Against CenterPoint Energy.
Those speaking in favor of the bill included state officials, utility representatives and South Spencer School Corp. Superintendent Brad Schneider. A small modular reactors is being considered for Rockport, Indiana, located in Spencer County.
Olsen said the opposition to the bill has little to do with how individuals feel about nuclear energy, but instead how they feel about customers.
Olsen said the bill forces customers to assume investment risk on behalf of investor-owned utilities, making them "economic development tools."
"Everywhere in this bill we are putting ratepayers on the hook," Olsen said.
In pointing out that utilities can recover costs even if a project isn't applied for, Olsen answered a question from a committee member asking if there are any small modular reactors online in the United States.
The answer is no. But there are some projects that began, and fell to the wayside, including one in South Carolina. And utility customers are still paying for them.
A "$9 billion hole in the ground" in South Carolina was referenced more than once in testimony Tuesday. There, as of 2023 reporting, customers with Dominion Energy had about 15 more years of paying for a project that wasn't completed. The South Carolina Daily Gazette reported the cost is just over $8 a month for a typical residential customer. A total of and it's paying off $2.3 billion worth of debt for the abandoned project.
Evansville-area customers are still awaiting an answer on CenterPoint Energy's current base rate case, which could add more than $30 a month to a typical bill.
On Tuesday, DAACE representative Norrick cited CenterPoint customer testimony from March about rising rates. Soliday interrupted Norrick and told him the hearing was not open for him to discuss his "various concerns in the energy industry."
"Could you confine your testimony to 1007, please," Soliday said.
"The affordability pillar has yet to mean a gosh darn thing to us in Evansville," Norrick said. "Establishing new laws, including these new pre-construction expanded (construction work in progress) policies only pushes more financial risk onto my friends, neighbors who have simply had enough."
Indiana's energy policy includes five pillars: reliability, resilience, stability, affordability and environmental sustainability.
Norrick said DAACE and its members were asking "hat in hand" that the committee deny the bill.
"Instead focus on making the affordability pillar a reality for us in Evansville," he said.
Rockport, Indiana eyes local SMR development
About 40 minutes away from Evansville, officials in Spencer County are supportive of small modular reactor language in HB 1007.
Schneider, the South Spencer schools, said small modular reactor projects would grow the local economy, offer students high-paying, high-demand jobs and bring financial stability to the whole of Southwestern Indiana.
Schneider said the HB 1007 is a "forward-thinking approach" to energy from the state.
As of Jan. 17, Indiana Michigan Power is seeking grants from the U.S. Department of Energy support early site permits for a small modular reactor site at its Rockport Plant.
"Through a grant funding partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, I&M is seeking $50 million to begin the early stages of (small modular reactor) development at the Rockport Plant site," a news release from the company stated.
The release stated Spencer County officials approved an ordinance in 2024 that supports new projects at the Rockport site, including small modular reactors.
Walker Franklin, a process supervisor senior with the Rockport Power Plant, also testified in support of the bill.
Franklin said he takes a great deal of pride in his home and profession, and sees the development of SMRs as opportunities for new hope in Spencer County.
"Without this project our community will struggle to continue on," Franklin said. "This project gives my community a fighting chance."