Candidates offered views on NIPSCO oversight, data centers and affordable housing during a forum at First Presbyterian Church on Saturday.
We Make Indiana, a faith-based nonprofit with a chapter in Porter County, sponsored the forum for candidates for Indiana House and Senate, commissioner and County Council.
Legislative candidates were asked to offer their views on affordability and reliability of electrical service.
The monthly bill for a 1,000-kilowatt-hour NISPCO customer has risen roughly 92% since 2016, from $122 to $234 in 2025, moderator Sonia Fabbri, of Duneland Community Church in Chesterton, said. She asked legislative candidates to name one specific change to make.
House Bill 1002 was “pretty watered down” in the last session, said Democrat Rodney Pol Jr., the incumbent in Senate District 4, including removing language that would end the sales tax on NIPSCO bills. “Your gas and electric is not like buying products at the store,” he said.
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The failed legislation also suggested caps on rate increases, prohibiting disconnections and stopping private equity firms from buying utilities. “Their whole purpose is to make money,” not improve service, he said.
“Your rates get spent on advertisement,” Pol said. “Well, NIPSCO is a monopoly. What are you spending your advertising on?”
“You guys are angry, and you should be,” he said.
His opponent, Republican Nate Uldricks, didn’t attend.
Democrat Nick Neal, running for the District 19 seat, said when utilities receive federal incentives, ratepayers should see that money.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission members are all appointed by the governor. “There is no conversation with the Democrat side of things because of the Republican supermajority,” he said.
“There should be an elected board for that,” Neal said. “One person should not determine for the entire board who should serve on it.”
Incumbent Julie Olthoff, Bridges’ Republican opponent, did not attend.
Democrat Tyler Bridges, running for the District 11 seat, said the IURC should be bipartisan if not elected.
Also, ratepayers foot the bill for new plants before they even generate electricity. “They are a for-profit corporation and a monopoly. That is outrageous,” he said.
“You notice my opponent (Republican Michael Aylesworth, the incumbent) is not here,” Bridges said.
“The sound bite is audit the utilities,” Chris Cleveland, Republican candidate in House District 9, said, but he urged looking at broader, regulatory problems.
IURC members all live in the Indianapolis area and are close friends with a number of utility representatives. Over the years, they’ve decided, “we’re all friends; we’re going to let it go,” Cleveland said.
“People want action now,” he said.
Gov. Mike Braun, who Cleveland said should be taken a sterner approach, has removed most of the IURC members.
“The other issue is that NIPSCO is simply a poorly run company,” Cleveland said. “We have really poor incentives in the way this company is set up.”
Private equity “is a really bad actor here,” he added.
Incumbent Randy Novak, Cleveland’s Democratic opponent, did not attend.
“I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot of daylight between any of us on these issues here,” said Travis Gearhart, Libertarian candidate for House District 4. “NIPSCO customers do not normally participate in a free market,” he said.
Gearhart wants an independent examination of where ratepayer dollars are going and questioned the IURC’s decisions. “Does a century-old monopoly regulatory model make sense?”
Ryan Kominakis, a Democrat, said the House District 4 race is “probably the most important race in the entire state when it comes to utilities.” Incumbent Republican Ed Soliday is head of the committee that regulates utilities and heads a new committee investigating utility issues in the wake of the Aug. 11 derecho that left some NIPSCO customers without power for weeks.
“He’s the most powerful Republican in the state when it comes to changing law affecting utilities,” Kominakis said.
Kominakis drew attention to Soliday’s campaign donations. “Ed has taken $180,000 in money from utility companies right across the state,” he said.
Soliday did not attend the forum.
Data centers
Candidates for the Center District commissioner’s seat and the County Council were asked what conditions they would put on any request for a large-scale data center to be built in Porter County.
Democrat Kyle Nelson, running for commissioner, believes their economic impact is overstated. He favors a moratorium like the one Valparaiso adopted, pending a full report on data centers’ impact on quality of life and the environment. He also said the state would need to repeal the 50-year exemption on sales and use taxes for large data centers before he would agree to lift a moratorium.
Opponent Mike Brickner, a Republican, said he wants locals to have a say in where a data center could be located.
Rather than a moratorium, he wants the county too say where a data center could be built. “If we don’t do that, the state will at some point try and dictate to us, that’s where a data center will be built,” Brickner said.
The Board of Commissioners need this zoning in place to dictate where it could be built without affecting the quality of life, he said.
Julia Kocal, Democratic candidate for council District 4, said she agreed with much of what Brickner said.
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“On the state level and the county level, we’ve put in no guardrails,” Kocal said. “The fact that they almost built one next to a school, that’s outrageous.”
She criticized local officials who sign nondisclosure agreements when a data center is proposed. She fears residents won’t know about a proposed data center until it’s too late.
“Why are we paying for their infrastructure if it’s a for-profit company,” she added.
She wants answers to a list of questions regarding light pollution, whether they’re powered by clean energy and the long-term effect on quality of life, as well as insisting they use a closed-loop system for water.
Her opponent, Republican Craig Kenworthy, didn’t attend.
Democrat Brian Gulley, running for council District 2, said he opposes large-scale data centers. He’s glad Portage didn’t get a casino or the Chicago Bears stadium because that could mean becoming too reliant on one industry. “When it comes in, it’s great, and when it leaves, it’s detrimental,” he said.
Opponent Spencer Lemmons, a Republican, didn’t attend but provided written answers to the questions provided in advance.
With Senate Enrolled Act 1 cutting revenue for local governments, it would be shortsighted to say absolutely not to data centers, he said. Instead, identify areas for each kind of development, ensure the developer pays all utility costs and offer as much public engagement and transparency as possible, he said.
Housing affordability
Home prices are up 53% in Porter County since 2019, and the county’s median home price is the sixth highest in the state, Fabbri and fellow moderator Susan Swarner, of First Presbyterian Church, said. Candidates were asked how to make housing more affordable.
Reducing unnecessary zoning restrictions and reducing permit fees would be a starting place in removing government-created barriers that makes houses expensive to build, Gearhart said. Reducing minimum lot sizes and parking requirements would help, too, he said.
As for the state’s influence, “Local communities should retain a meaningful role in land use decisions,” he said. “Local government exists for a reason.”
Kominakis said offering a grant program to help new homebuyers meet the private mortgage insurance threshold would be a boon. “That’s a huge, huge, huge cost and expense,” he said.
“We do need to reduce the barriers as much as we can, particularly to building these homes,” Cleveland said.
“Most of these are fundamentally local decisions,” he said. “Really, pressure needs to be at the local level.”
It’s difficult for older people with larger homes to downsize because there aren’t enough smaller homes. “I’m knocking on the doors of really large homes with older people with most of the rooms empty,” he said. Higher population density in downtowns, which Chesterton and Valparaiso have, would help solve this, he said.
Bridges, 29, is trying to find a home to rent or buy. “It’s very difficult, and a lot of people my age feel this.”
Giving incentives for young people to buy a home would bring people into the community to spend their money at stores and restaurants, he said.
Young families and working class people deserve incentives, he said. “They do it for businesses and corporations all the time.”
Neal supports a residential infrastructure fund, to expand housing options, putting homes in areas convenient to jobs, schools and transportation corridors.
The missing middle segment of the housing market means adding duplexes and townhomes, he said. “We’re all going to get older one day,” so those options are needed.
“Cut back government regulations?” Pol asked. “Essentially, you guys lose your voice as to what your neighborhood looks like.”
“This issue, though, is the cost. Right now, we are seeing a record number of housing foreclosures. We’re seeing a record low in first-time homebuyers,” Poll said.
Tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump raise costs for building materials, and private equity firms like BlackRock are hurting homebuyers, Pol said. “You need to get private equity out of real estate. Houses are for people, not private equity.”
Offer a substantive first-time homebuyer tax credit, Pol suggested.
Kocal advised encouraging duplexes, townhouses and small homes where the infrastructure is already in place. “It’s going to cost less because the infrastructure is already there.”
“The county can incentivize developers to build mixed-price communities,” she said, adding that housing diversity strengthens the community.
Kocal met an older gentleman who couldn’t stay in Porter County because he couldn’t afford what he would need to downsize to. Tax breaks should be offered not only to first-time buyers but to workforce buyers as well, she said.
A Porter County housing partnership including banks and credit unions, local government and developers could help obtain grants that could be used locally for stacking programs that help assemble enough capital to finance purchases, Kocal said.
Gulley said the Indiana Realtors Association has the same concerns.
Portage’s housing boom began when he was on the City Council, he said. Allowing smaller lot sizes for higher population density lowers taxes for residents, he said, and keeping the tax burden low means more people can afford to live in Porter County.
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“Affordable housing has a lot of moving parts to it,” Brickner said.
The county is in the process of updating its comprehensive plan. Revising zoning laws should be done with an eye on affordability, he said.
Brickner praised the Valparaiso model, with a significant amount of property donated for affordable housing.
Educating people on how to save enough for a down payment is also important, he said.
Nelson suggested establishing and enforcing minimum housing and zoning standards to increase land available for housing at that price point.
“Homeownership is a key part of making people feel committed to their community” and to building generational wealth, he said.
Lemmons said in his written response that while the council’s role is limited, the Board of Zoning Appeals and Plan Commission can address this issue.
Allowing accessory dwelling units – a second home on a single lot – could help, too, he said.
Fourteen of the 21 candidates invited to participate in the forum agreed to attend, We Make Indiana organizer Serena Fugate said, but two of them had to drop out, one citing an emergency on Saturday. Only in one race – county commissioner District 2 – were all candidates present at the forum. In two of the races – House District 10 and County Council District 3 – none of the candidates attended.
We Make Indiana hoped for 100 people in the audience, and about 150 showed up, Fugate said.
Rev. Kim Adams is pastor at First Presbyterian Church. “We Presbyterians do love a good meeting, and this afternoon we hope a productive one,” she said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.