DOE Orders Jasper-Area Schahfer Coal Plant to Stay Open, Raising Costs

The U.S. Department of Energy has issued emergency "must-run" orders forcing Northern Indiana Public Service Company's R.M. Schahfer Generating Station and CenterPoint Energy’s F.B. Culley Generating Station to remain operational beyond planned late-2025 retirements, with the Indiana orders keeping the plants online until at least March 23, 2026 and prompting warnings of millions in added costs and legal challenges. The orders are part of a set of federal actions that delayed retirements at aging coal units in multiple states and were issued under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act.

DOE invoked reliability concerns in the orders, saying losing certain units could lead to a “loss of power to homes, and businesses in the areas that may be affected by curtailments or power outages, presenting a risk to public health and safety.” The orders are generally structured as 90-day directives, and federal officials have framed them as immediate measures to prevent blackouts while utilities and environmental groups dispute both the necessity and the authority for the interventions.

The Schahfer plant figure features prominently for Jasper-area residents and operators. Indystar identified the facility as NIPSCO’s R.M. Schahfer Generating Station and said the plant was ordered to stay online until at least March 23, 2026. Reporting elsewhere named “Schafer Unit 18” and said that unit “has been broken since July 2025.” Vincent Parisi was quoted as saying, “It can take six months or longer for us to ultimately be able to get that unit back to where it would need to be to operate for an extended period of time.” Parisi was identified in that account as president of Northern Indiana Power Service Co.; company-name variations in reporting remain unresolved.

CenterPoint’s F.B. Culley Generating Station in Warrick County was the other Indiana plant named in DOE’s orders, and Indystar listed Culley alongside Schahfer as required to remain online until at least March 23, 2026. The reporting did not specify unit numbers at Culley or detailed operational conditions for specific Culley turbines, and utilities and regulators have not published a public breakdown of unit-level availability tied to the orders in the material reviewed.

Federal action in Indiana follows earlier must-run orders elsewhere that already attracted significant costs and litigation. DOE’s directive that kept Michigan’s J.H. Campbell running was reported to have cost consumers $164 million over four months, and a coalition of environmental groups asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to “put an end to the Department’s continued abuse of its authority, which has imposed millions of dollars in unnecessary costs and pollution on residents of Michigan and the Midwest.” In Colorado, DOE ordered Craig Generating Station Unit 1 to stay online after a Dec. 30 order; reporting said the unit suffered a valve failure 11 days before the mandate, that running costs at Craig rose 67 percent between 2021 and 2024, and that Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association argued in a Feb. 5, 2026 rehearing petition that “The Order’s asserted emergency is no such emergency.”

Utilities and political actors are preparing legal and political responses. Tri-State’s CEO Duane Highley said, “As a not-for-profit cooperative, our membership will bear the costs of compliance.” Indiana Democrats have criticized the decision as imposing potential taxpayer burdens. Environmental groups including Earthjustice have labeled at least some orders illegal and unsupported and have filed suit or briefs challenging DOE’s use of Section 202(c).

Key details remain contested and likely to shape the immediate local impact: reports conflict on whether R.M. Schahfer’s municipal/county designation is “Jasper County” or “Jasper (Dubois County),” precise unit-level conditions at Culley have not been published, and the full DOE order texts and cost accounting for the Indiana directives are not yet public. With rehearing petitions and D.C. Circuit briefs filed, residents and ratepayers in Dubois and Warrick counties face a period of litigation and regulatory review that could keep costs and operational uncertainty in place through at least March 23, 2026.