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Energy Secretary Issues Emergency Orders to Ensure Indiana Coal-fired Facilities Remain Open to Prevent Midwest Blackouts

LCG, December 24, 2025--The U.S. Secretary of Energy today issued emergency orders to keep two Indiana coal plants operational, with the stated goal to ensure Americans in the Midwest region of the United States have access to affordable, reliable, and secure electricity heading into the winter months. The orders direct CenterPoint Energy, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO) to take all measures necessary to ensure specified generation units at both the F.B. Culley and R.M. Schahfer generating stations in Indiana are available to operate.

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RWE and Indiana Michigan Power Company Sign Long-term PPA for 200 MW Wind Project

LCG, December 18, 2025--RWE and Indiana Michigan Power Company (I&M), an American Electric Power (AEP) company, today announced their partnering to provide new wind power generation capacity online to meet Indiana’s growing electricity demand. The companies signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the total output from RWE’s 200 MW Prairie Creek wind project in Blackford County, Indiana. I&M will purchase electricity from the wind project, which will further diversify its portfolio and be consistent with its all-of-the-above strategy to secure generation for its rapidly growing electricity demand.

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Industry News

Senate Panel Finds FERC Lacking

LCG, November 12, 2002-A Senate panel has determined that the FERC neglected to act on information about Enron and has too few personnel attending to the regulation of industry.

In a report released today, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee found that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should have noticed Enron's irregular behavior as long as five years ago. In the report, Senators pointed to wind farm transactions in 1997 where assets were transferred to secret Enron partnerships instead of companies separate from Enron as promised.

A higher rate on power is allowed to be charged for qualifying facilities such as wind generators; Enron's acquisition of three California wind projects mandated either Enron's sale of the wind assets or a non-special rate on those generators. Enron's secret ownership tacked on an additional and illegal $176 million in collections from the wind farms.

FERC had begun investigating the secret partnerships only last month.

According to the report, "On a number of occasions, FERC was provided with sufficient information to raise suspicions of improper activities -- or had itself identified potential problems -- in areas where it had regulatory responsibilities over Enron, but failed to understand the significance of the information of its implications."

The Senate Committee also noted that FERC had too few staff involved with market oversight and that too small of a percentage of FERC's employees are involved in preventing market abuse.

FERC has already countered that, with only 1,250 employees, 800 of which are involved in safety and licensing, 200 of the remaining 450 are working in oversight and enforcement. The Federal agency has also taken issue with the Senate Committee's criticism of FERC's investigation, saying more skilled investigators have been hired.

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