Megan Wittman, megan.wittman@sierraclub.org
INDIANA – Indiana utilities’ failure is spotlighted in a case study in this year’s Dirty Truth Report by Sierra Club. The report, out today, covers all five investor-owned utilities in the state and found that collectively, they performed worse than any previous report year.
In particular, the report calls out NIPSCO: in all previous years of the Dirty Truth, NIPSCO earned an A or B grade, but this year the utility plummeted down to an F, largely due to their plans for a huge increase in new gas capacity– over 6 gigawatts of new gas by 2035, which is 7 times as much gas as NIPSCO currently operates– almost entirely to serve data centers.
“The report really solidifies what Hoosiers already know and are experiencing every day: Indiana’s utilities are failing us in regards to cost, performance, and reliability, and it’s all due to their insistence to double down on fossil fuels,” said Nicole Chandler, Southwest Indiana Beyond Coal Campaign Organizer. “Indiana had the highest increase in electric bills of any state from 2024 to 2025, and our costs keep skyrocketing. Hoosiers are having to choose between keeping their lights on and affording necessary medications. They’re having to choose between dinner and heating their homes. As Big Tech continues to try to build massive AI data centers in the state, our utilities are moving us backward– building outdated sources of power generation at enormous cost for the rest of us.”
The sixth annual report comes days after the Trump Administration’s fourth illegal renewal of the Culley coal plant, owned by CenterPoint, and the Schahfer coal plant, owned by NIPSCO and yet the utility wants customers to pay $38 million for the first 3 months Trump forced the plant to stay open– $2.8 million of that cost will be entirely for executive profit. While CenterPoint has voiced opposition to the illegal orders, NIPSCO has not opposed the orders at all.
“The Dirty Truth report has once again revealed utilities’ overwhelming failure to plan a phase-out of their expensive and dirty fossil fuel infrastructure, and transition to clean energy,” said Sierra Club Chief Program Officer Holly Bender. “Every year that utilities drag their feet on the clean energy transition is another year where families pay record bills for expensive fossil fuels, another year of extreme weather events, and another year of air and water pollution threatening our health. We cannot afford to wait any longer to bring our grid into the 21st century. As artificial intelligence data centers drive demand for energy, utility companies are rushing to expensive and dangerous fossil fuels, leading to soaring electricity prices and worsening air pollution. The time is now for these companies to transition to affordable, reliable, clean energy to build a healthier and more sustainable energy future. The Sierra Club will continue to push utilities to deploy more renewable energy and work to lower costs and emissions.”
Background on the Dirty Truth
The Dirty Truth Report grades utilities across the country based on how much coal they are retiring, how much gas they are planning, and how much renewable energy they are adding. Nationally, the 76 utilities scored 7 out of 100 in aggregate. This is eight points lower than last year’s report and the lowest score in the report’s history.
Renewable energy remains the cheapest way to generate electricity, while coal and fossil fuels remain expensive and extremely harmful to public health. Despite this, the Dirty Truth Report shows that Indiana’s utilities are doubling down on dangerous, expensive fossil fuels. This means higher bills for families, more dangerous pollution, and less reliable energy.
The full report is available on the Dirty Truth website or here.
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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.