The Indiana state Senate and House of Representatives have passed Senate Bill 424 on nuclear financing, which now awaits the signature of Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R).
The bill would allow public utilities to petition before or during the construction of a small modular reactor to recover pre-construction costs from customers prior to receiving certificates of public convenience and necessity from the Indiana Utility Regulation Commission.
The bill geared toward small modular reactors (SMRs) passed in the House in a 59 – 30 vote on March 20 and passed in the Senate in a 32 – 15 vote on March 25.
“A public utility may petition the commission for approval to incur, before obtaining a certificate under this chapter, project development costs for the development of one (1) or more small modular nuclear reactors,” as stated in the Senate Bill 424.
In reviewing the petition, the commission will consider factors including anticipated costs and the development timeline.
The commission will generally review the petition and issue a final order approving or denying the certificate within 180 days.
In the proposed bill, the utility company can only adjust its rate schedule once a year. It can also pursue 80% of its approved project costs under the approved rate schedule, while the other 20% will be deferred to the next rate’s case filed to the commission.
Indiana Sen. Eric Koch (R), chairman of the Senate’s Utilities Committee, authored the bill on Jan. 13. He also authored another bill, Senate Bill 423, that pertains to a SMR pilot program.
The proposed bill was initially passed in its state Senate in a 34 – 14 vote on Feb. 3 and then referred to the state’s House the next day.
The bill started out in the Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications House Committee on March 3 and was amended.
