The U.S. Department of Energy, for the second time, has extended an order that requires the Northern Indiana Public Service Company to maintain operations at its generating station in Wheatfield.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright renewed the order on Thursday, and it’s in effect from Monday through Sept. 19, according to a DOE announcement.
“Taking reliable generation off the grid compromises energy reliability and needlessly raises energy costs for Americans,” Wright said in the news release. “During peak summer demand, Midwesterners deserve continued access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy to power and cool their homes.”
The order also requires the F.B. Culley generating station to be operable in Newburgh. Both stations were scheduled to be retired at the end of 2025.
According to the announcement, the orders “will minimize electricity costs and the risk of unnecessary blackouts for the American people.”
A DOE spokesperson previously said the emergency order “prevented blackouts and likely saved hundreds of thousands of lives,” but environmental and utility advocates say the order has no benefits and continues to cost ratepayers money, according to Post-Tribune archives.
A NIPSCO spokesperson said in an email statement that the utility continues to comply with the order and assess “the impact of these orders” on its operations, customers and employees.
An Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission hearing revealed that Schahfer’s coal units 17 and 18 are broken, according to Post-Tribune archives. Unit 18 has been broken since the first emergency order on Dec. 23, 2025, which was renewed on March 24.
“Units 17 and 18 are currently offline while inspections, maintenance and repair work continue, including significant turbine and boiler work,” a NIPSCO statement said. “Following the orders, these units will continue to support reliability across the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) Northern and Central Zones. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has authorized NIPSCO to seek recovery of costs to comply with the 202(c) orders.
“As this process continues, NIPSCO remains focused on operating safely and providing reliable energy to its customers and the MISO Northern and Central Zones in compliance with the 202(c) order.”
U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, said in a Monday letter to Wright that he’s opposed to the emergency order’s renewal, citing high energy costs for Northwest Indiana residents.
“At a time when ratepayers in Northwest Indiana are already facing skyrocketing utility bills, this action will continue to place burdensome and unnecessary costs on families and businesses throughout the region,” Mrvan said in his letter. “I urge you to reverse this order and instead work to lower utility costs for constituents.”
In his letter, Mrvan said NIPSCO has estimated losses of $11.5 million to keep Schahfer operable. He also cited the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which found the cost to keep coal-fired power plants operating past retirement dates nationwide is $300 million, and the number is expected to rise by $30 million each month.
In July 2025, the Citizens Action Coalition found that statewide electric utility bills have increased by more than $28 per month, or 17.5%, according to an organization report. NIPSCO residential customers were hit hardest, with about a $50 per month, or 26.7% increase, in one year.
Mrvan also referenced Wright’s April 15 testimony in front of the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, in which he said that he’d reverse the directive if it was no longer “net-beneficial to ratepayers.”
“Placing these additional costs on families already struggling to pay their utility bills is cruel and unnecessary,” Mrvan said. “The millions of dollars shouldered by ratepayers to keep the Wheatfield plant in operation will only make it more difficult for seniors, families, and hard-working Americans to keep their lights on.”
Mrvan is not the first to take action against the emergency orders. Indiana public interest groups, including the Citizens Action Coalition, Just Transition Northwest Indiana and the Hoosier Environmental Council, joined EarthJustice, the Sierra Club and Environmental Law and Policy Center in a challenge of the executive order, according to Post-Tribune archives.
EarthJustice alleged that the orders override decisions made in the interest of customers by power companies, grid operators and state utility regulators to retire the plants, according to Post-Tribune archives.
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Before this order, NIPSCO was in the middle of a multiyear initiative to close its coal-fired generating stations, and the utility plans to replace the sites with more cost-effective, efficient and sustainable sources, including wind, solar and battery storage.
NIPSCO plans to convert the Schahfer station into a natural gas plant as part of a plan to provide energy for data centers, including a $15 billion Amazon Web Services development that will be invested in the region, including Hobart, according to Post-Tribune archives.