Latest news with #Olson
Indianapolis Star
7 hours ago
- Business
- Indianapolis Star
Hoosiers hit with historically high electric bill increases, consumer watchdog study shows
Hoosiers are paying historically high energy rates from Indiana's investor-owned utilities, according to a new analysis by a consumer watchdog group. Citizens Action Coalition collected and analyzed 20 years of data from five of the state's monopoly utilities — NIPSCO, CenterPoint, Duke Energy Indiana, AES Indiana and I&M — and found residents were hit this year with the highest year-over-year price increase since at least 2005. The group's key findings show a statewide average energy bill increase of more than $28 per month — a 17.5% jump. The Indiana Energy Association, in a written statement in response to the CAC report, said its members "are committed to keeping affordability top of mind, while also making the investments needed to provide reliable electricity." Kerwin Olson, executive director of CAC, said for years Indiana lawmakers have passed utility-friendly legislation shifting economic risk and cost on to Hoosiers already facing rising costs for housing, healthcare and other bills. 'This is an ongoing trend of continuing to use rate payers as economic development tools while inappropriately shifting all of the investment risk of running the utility away from utilities themselves and their investors onto shareholders,' Olson said. 'And that comes at a cost, and that cost is starting to display itself as extraordinary rate increases.' The continued increase in utility bills is exacerbating an affordability crisis, he said, and Indiana is the epitome of regulatory and legislative control by investor-owned utilities that dictate policy and regulatory outcomes. The state, Olson said, needs to get serious about looking at policy solutions that invite competition and provide customers with a choice rather than allowing monopoly pricing. "Let's get serious about making sure the everyday working class Hoosier can live their life with some dignity and afford the daily cost of living," he said. CAC's analysis of data from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission shows large year-over-year bill increases for Hoosier's residential energy bills between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025. The Indiana Energy Association noted "Indiana has been growing, and Indiana's utilities have an obligation to keep pace with that demand and power a modern economy." The association wrote that Indiana's energy companies invested in additional power generation and modernization of the electric grid that delivers that power. "We've added advanced technology to the electric grid that reduces power outages and hardens the grid against severe weather. There also have been substantial investments in evolving environmental regulations," the statement says. NIPSCO customers, the ratepayers already paying the most, saw the largest increase of $50, or 26.7%, per month, according to CAC. NIPSCO spokeswoman Tara McElmurry told IndyStar the company is aligned with IEA's statement and has nothing further to add. CenterPoint customers saw a $44 per month increase, or 25%, over the last year following an IURC-approved rate increase. CenterPoint did not immediately respond to IndyStar's request for comment. Duke Energy Indiana customers saw a $26 increase on their monthly bills. Angeline Protogere, spokeswoman for Duke Indiana, wrote in an email to IndyStar that Duke has the lowest average rate among major utilities in Indiana for residential users, and that the year-over-year survey includes base rates as well as fuel and purchased power costs, which fluctuate quarterly. New rates allow Duke to continue making investments in a variety of ways including outage resilience, increasing reliability and transmission infrastructure among other things. "We have invested $1.6 billion in our electric grid, power plants and overall system on behalf of our customers, and that is reflected in a base rate increase that went into effect in February 2025," Protogere wrote. AES Indiana residential customers paid about $17 more each month, and the utility recently filed for another rate increase. AES did not comment but instead referred IndyStar to the IEA statement. I&M customers saw bills rise $6 a month. I&M did not immediately respond to IndyStar. Gov. Mike Braun ran his gubernatorial campaign, in part, by promising lower energy costs for Hoosiers, and state lawmakers referenced affordability during legislative session this year. These promises have yet to come to fruition, and Olson said lawmakers continue to compound the issue of energy bills running rampant with laws such as Senate bills 424 and 423 which shifted even more costs onto Hoosiers. He also pointed out Braun's new Strategic Energy Growth Task Force, meant to address affordability, lacks any consumer advocates. 'It's hard to believe we're serious about affordability when a task force like that lacks a consumer voice,' Olson said. 'And then we see numbers like these: rate increase after rate increase after rate increase with no end in sight and with no apparent desire from the state to seriously take a look at why and try to fix the problem.' Olson and CAC are not opposed to economic development and growth, but he said the risks need to appropriately be shared and something needs to change. 'All we want to do in Indiana is build, build, build in the name of energy dominance, and rate payers be damned,' he said. IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. IndyStar environment and natural resources reporter Sophie Hartley contributed to this report.
Indianapolis Star
7 hours ago
- Business
- Indianapolis Star
Hoosiers hit with historically high electric bill increases, consumer watchdog study shows
Hoosiers are paying historically high energy rates from Indiana's investor-owned utilities, according to a new analysis by a consumer watchdog group. Citizens Action Coalition collected and analyzed 20 years of data from five of the state's monopoly utilities — NIPSCO, CenterPoint, Duke Energy Indiana, AES Indiana and I&M — and found residents were hit this year with the highest year-over-year price increase since at least 2005. The group's key findings show a statewide average energy bill increase of more than $28 per month — a 17.5% jump. The Indiana Energy Association, in a written statement in response to the CAC report, said its members "are committed to keeping affordability top of mind, while also making the investments needed to provide reliable electricity." Kerwin Olson, executive director of CAC, said for years Indiana lawmakers have passed utility-friendly legislation shifting economic risk and cost on to Hoosiers already facing rising costs for housing, healthcare and other bills. 'This is an ongoing trend of continuing to use rate payers as economic development tools while inappropriately shifting all of the investment risk of running the utility away from utilities themselves and their investors onto shareholders,' Olson said. 'And that comes at a cost, and that cost is starting to display itself as extraordinary rate increases.' The continued increase in utility bills is exacerbating an affordability crisis, he said, and Indiana is the epitome of regulatory and legislative control by investor-owned utilities that dictate policy and regulatory outcomes. The state, Olson said, needs to get serious about looking at policy solutions that invite competition and provide customers with a choice rather than allowing monopoly pricing. "Let's get serious about making sure the everyday working class Hoosier can live their life with some dignity and afford the daily cost of living," he said. CAC's analysis of data from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission shows large year-over-year bill increases for Hoosier's residential energy bills between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025. The Indiana Energy Association noted "Indiana has been growing, and Indiana's utilities have an obligation to keep pace with that demand and power a modern economy." The association wrote that Indiana's energy companies invested in additional power generation and modernization of the electric grid that delivers that power. "We've added advanced technology to the electric grid that reduces power outages and hardens the grid against severe weather. There also have been substantial investments in evolving environmental regulations," the statement says. NIPSCO customers, the ratepayers already paying the most, saw the largest increase of $50, or 26.7%, per month, according to CAC. NIPSCO spokeswoman Tara McElmurry told IndyStar the company is aligned with IEA's statement and has nothing further to add. CenterPoint customers saw a $44 per month increase, or 25%, over the last year following an IURC-approved rate increase. CenterPoint did not immediately respond to IndyStar's request for comment. Duke Energy Indiana customers saw a $26 increase on their monthly bills. Angeline Protogere, spokeswoman for Duke Indiana, wrote in an email to IndyStar that Duke has the lowest average rate among major utilities in Indiana for residential users, and that the year-over-year survey includes base rates as well as fuel and purchased power costs, which fluctuate quarterly. New rates allow Duke to continue making investments in a variety of ways including outage resilience, increasing reliability and transmission infrastructure among other things. "We have invested $1.6 billion in our electric grid, power plants and overall system on behalf of our customers, and that is reflected in a base rate increase that went into effect in February 2025," Protogere wrote. AES Indiana residential customers paid about $17 more each month, and the utility recently filed for another rate increase. AES did not comment but instead referred IndyStar to the IEA statement. I&M customers saw bills rise $6 a month. I&M did not immediately respond to IndyStar. Gov. Mike Braun ran his gubernatorial campaign, in part, by promising lower energy costs for Hoosiers, and state lawmakers referenced affordability during legislative session this year. These promises have yet to come to fruition, and Olson said lawmakers continue to compound the issue of energy bills running rampant with laws such as Senate bills 424 and 423 which shifted even more costs onto Hoosiers. He also pointed out Braun's new Strategic Energy Growth Task Force, meant to address affordability, lacks any consumer advocates. 'It's hard to believe we're serious about affordability when a task force like that lacks a consumer voice,' Olson said. 'And then we see numbers like these: rate increase after rate increase after rate increase with no end in sight and with no apparent desire from the state to seriously take a look at why and try to fix the problem.' Olson and CAC are not opposed to economic development and growth, but he said the risks need to appropriately be shared and something needs to change. 'All we want to do in Indiana is build, build, build in the name of energy dominance, and rate payers be damned,' he said. IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. IndyStar environment and natural resources reporter Sophie Hartley contributed to this report.
Canada News.Net
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Canada News.Net
Division leaders clash as Blue Jays, Tigers begin series
(Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images) The Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers each have 60 victories, but the two division leaders have been heading in opposite directions. The Blue Jays have won five of their six games since the All-Star break, opening up a four-game lead over the second-place New York Yankees in the American League East. Detroit has seen its lead in the AL Central shrink to eight games over the Cleveland Guardians after dropping nine of its past 10 games. Now the Tigers will host the Blue Jays for four games beginning on Thursday night. Detroit was swept in a three-game series this week by the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates, the last-place team in the National League Central. 'It's a good testament to just getting up and moving on,' Tigers outfielder Matt Vierling said, according to the Detroit News. 'It's a new day and the biggest thing, it's a new series. Regardless of what's happened these past couple, we have to move on. We know they've been playing good baseball, but it's a new series and that's awesome for us. We get a new start.' Reese Olson (4-3, 2.71 ERA) will start the series opener for the Tigers. He tossed five-plus scoreless innings in Texas on Friday, allowing two hits and a walk but still needing 90 pitches to get 15 outs. Olson has made three starts since a finger injury on his throwing hand forced him to the injured list in mid-May. He has given up just three runs in 14 1/3 innings (1.88 ERA) during that span. 'I felt a little more normal than I had my last two starts back,' he said after the outing against the Rangers. 'Still too many three-ball counts, but I felt more normal, for sure.' Olson stymied the Blue Jays in his last start before going on the IL, holding them to one hit and a walk in six scoreless innings on May 17. He is 1-0 with a 0.55 ERA in four career appearances (three starts) against Toronto. He will be opposed by Eric Lauer (5-2, 2.80 ERA), who is coming off one of his best outings of the season. Lauer held the San Francisco Giants to two runs on two hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and no walks on Saturday. That equaled his longest start this year. 'What he's been able to do, to come in and just give us a chance to win every game, it's invaluable,' infielder Ernie Clement said. 'Tip of the cap to him. He's probably been our unsung MVP so far.' Lauer, who pitched in South Korea last year, has given the starting staff an unexpected boost. 'I'm just trying to make sure that I stick in the rotation, honestly,' Lauer said. 'That's what I want to do, and that's where I think I can help the team best.' Lauer is 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA in three career starts against Detroit. He took a no-decision against Olson and the Tigers on May 17 after yielding one run in three innings. Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. appears to be heating up entering the series, having reached base 11 times over the past four games. He knocked in two runs and scored twice in an 8-4 win over the Yankees on Wednesday. In contrast, Tigers All-Star outfielder Riley Greene is 3-for-21 with 10 strikeouts since the All-Star break. Manager A.J. Hinch rested him Wednesday as Detroit lost 6-1 to the Pirates. 'Everybody needs a blow every now and then. He looks like he's had a long week,' Hinch said.
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Proposed data center project in Yorkville advances to City Council for discussion
A proposal for a major data center project in Yorkville is being considered by the Yorkville City Council, following public hearings and a recommendation for approval from the Yorkville Planning and Zoning Commission at its July 9 meeting. Following this most recent green light, the matter will be discussed by the City Council, with a vote on approvals for the project by the council coming as soon as August. The proposed data center project, called Project Cardinal, is being brought forward by Pioneer Development, LLC, along with the property owners, according to the city's website. The development site is just over 1,000 acres — a total of 20 parcels — in the northwest corner of Yorkville on the border with Sugar Grove, generally located northwest of Route 47 and Galena Road, south of Baseline Road and east of Ashe Road, according to the agenda item from the July 9 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. There would be a total of 14 data center buildings, along with two electrical substations, a utility switchyard and stormwater detention basins, according to plans. The city has now held two public hearings on the project, and it's gone through the city's Economic Development Committee and Planning and Zoning Commission. The first hearing was about the annexation agreement — which is required because a portion of the proposed development site is not currently part of the city, explained Yorkville City Administrator Bart Olson. Recommended for approval on July 9 by the Planning and Zoning Commission was the rezoning of the land from various residential and business districts to an M-2 General Manufacturing District to enable the data center project to be built there, as well as a Planned Unit Development, or PUD, and preliminary PUD plan. At the July 9 meeting, Olson said the data center could benefit the city by providing an influx of tax revenue via increased property taxes from the development area. And it would have a minimal effect on taxing bodies like schools, he said, because a data center wouldn't generate students in the same way a new subdivision would, for example. Each building takes nearly two years to build, he noted, meaning it could be multiple years before there are any buildings constructed, and therefore potentially years before that increased property tax revenue materializes. Matt McCarron, a representative from Pioneer Development, LLC, the lead sponsor of the project, emphasized that the project is entirely privately funded, with no support from city or taxpayer money. He noted the possibility of job creation from the project, and said they would not begin building out data center buildings without committed users for them. The city is requiring that the data center project be constructed at least 500 feet from the next closest building, Olson said, and, within that, there needs to be a landscape buffer surrounding the campus. McCarron said Pioneer plans to create this 'green belt,' or landscape buffer, to separate the development from the surrounding area to minimize noise and the sight of the buildings, for example. It also plans to build a new public trail that would run along the campus perimeter for residents. 'Neighbors are not going to hear this campus,' McCarron said at the meeting, saying that Pioneer is 'not trying to redefine Yorkville.' He said innovations in equipment mean the data center's operations could get quieter over time, and said that there would be minimal daily traffic once the data center project is built. But some residents expressed concern about potential noise, and with the way the build-out would unfold. John Bryan, who spoke at the meeting and said he lives near the western edge of the proposed development area, expressed concern about the noise and traffic from construction before the data center project is actually built. He told The Beacon-News he took issue with the dust created by construction as well, and expressed concern about the potential environmental impact of data centers. At the meeting, Bryan also said he bought his lot because it was zoned as residential, and said that he and his neighbors, who are not part of the city of Yorkville, will experience the 'burden' of the construction without representation from the council deciding whether or not to approve it. Keith Landovitz, who said he and his wife also live just to the west of the proposed data center project, expressed concern about the 'disproportionate impact on people who are not residents of Yorkville.' He cited a particular issue with a proposal that the project build out from its west side, saying he would prefer a plan that built out from the center. McCarron told The Beacon-News on Friday that the project phasing and order of construction has not yet been finalized. Data centers' water use is another major concern that's arisen as these sorts of projects are considered locally, according to past reporting. Olson said the city is asking any data centers they allow in the area to use air-cooled chillers and closed-loop, water-cooled chillers that are more water-efficient to mitigate those concerns. And all of these discussions are occurring during a time of significant growth for the area. Kendall County, for example, has been growing rapidly in recent years, and grappling with how to account for its increased numbers. But the proposed area has remained undeveloped, Olson said. There had been a plan to build housing there around two decades ago, he noted, but it didn't come to fruition amid the 2008 financial crisis. Olson said how a data center might fit into the area's future will be up to the council, but he pointed to efforts like the landscape buffer as one possible way to ease concerns about development and growth. 'They (residents) don't want dense development,' he said. 'They don't want buildings right up against the road. They want some areas to have viewing spaces and have everything kind of be uncluttered visually.' And Project Cardinal is not the only proposed project on the horizon for Yorkville. The city has already approved another data center project, for which construction is set to begin on 230 acres next year, according to past reporting. Another data center plan called Project Steel is also seeking the green light from Yorkville. That project is roughly half the size of Project Cardinal, and would include 24 data center buildings, according to the city. The city held a public hearing for it on June 24, and it's set to go next to the Economic Development Committee and Planning and Zoning Commission in August. As for what's next for Project Cardinal, its rezoning, special use authorization for a PUD and preliminary PUD plan were recommended for approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission. The project is set to be discussed next at the July 22 City Council meeting. Olson said the preliminary approvals — the annexation agreement, rezoning, PUD and preliminary PUD plan — could be up for a vote by the City Council in August.
Canada News.Net
6 days ago
- Sport
- Canada News.Net
Tigers on top perch, Rangers chasing to open the second half of the season
(Photo credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images) The Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers return from the All-Star break in vastly different positions when they square off on Friday in Arlington, Texas. The Tigers send right-hander Reese Olson (4-3, 2.95 ERA) to the mound to start while the Rangers counter with southpaw Patrick Corbin (6-7, 4.15). Detroit begins the second half of the season with the best record in the majors (59-38) and with an 11 1/2-game lead over the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central standings. The Tigers limped to the break with a four-game losing streak -- all at home -- and understand that they will be a hunted team through the summer months and beyond. 'There are so many great things that we can look back on the first half,' Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson said. 'This team's great, and it's been great. Four games is nothing in a 162-game season. We will come back like we're 0-0. Regardless of our record, stay hungry.' Olson takes the ball after recording three straight no-decisions and a 1-1 mark over his past five starts. He lost to the Rangers at home on May 11 after giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk over four innings. He made one more start -- a no-decision in Toronto despite allowing just one hit over six innings -- before going in the injured list (finger) on May 18. Olson returned to the rotation on July 4 and has been solid, allowing a combined three runs on 12 hits with three walks and four strikeouts over 9 1/3 innings. He is 0-2 with a 3.75 ERA in 12 innings over three career starts against Texas, surrendering five runs on 16 hits and three walks while striking out 15. Texas, meanwhile, is in chase mode. The Rangers start the second half at 48-49 and in third place in the AL West, 8 1/2 games behind front-running Houston and 3 1/2 back of second place Seattle. Texas took two of three games from the Astros in the series heading to the break. 'We gotta win games; we're not playing to get to .500, we're playing to get past that,' Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. 'It's been a tough mark to get to. ' Corbin has been a start-eater for the Rangers this year and is the only Texas pitcher not to miss his turn in the rotation. He is 3-3 with a 4.73 ERA in his last seven starts. Corbin won his second straight start on July 10, allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks and six strikeouts over five innings in an 11-4 victory over the Angels in Anaheim, Calif. Corbin is 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA in three career starts against the Tigers, including a loss this season in Detroit in which he gave up two runs on three hits and four walks in seven innings. He has surrendered five runs on 13 hits and six walks with 10 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings in his career versus the Tigers.
