Last week, Gov. Eric Holcomb said the state has no plans to further extend a ban on utility shutoffs during the COVID-19 crisis. But more than 11 percent of Hoosiers are still unemployed and cases are going up.

Houston, Texas-based CenterPoint Energy finalized its merger with formerly Evansville, Indiana-based Vectren in February 2019. Since then, the company has been operating under the name Vectren, a CenterPoint Energy Company.

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission voted unanimously to deny the request by utilities, who had said they needed to recover millions of dollars in lost revenue over the last few months as businesses closed their doors and factories cut hours and used less electricity.

Vectren hopes to retire three of its coal units in 2023. Instead of building a large natural gas plant as the company had originally intended, more than 60 percent of its energy mix will be solar, wind, and battery storage.

An agreement with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management would require IPL to create a compliance plan to continue operating the Petersburg power plant and pay a $78,300 fine for violating its permits more than 120 times.

The state says utilities aren't allowed to disconnect water, sewer, or electricity to their customers until the emergency order has lifted. Uncertainty over when that might happen is worrying both utilities and consumer advocates.

The Indiana NAACP says keeping coal plants open longer would negatively affect the health of low-income and minority communities in the state.

The bill's author says utilities are relying more and more on renewable energy sources and the energy marketplace -- and that could threaten reliability.

Lawmakers have proposed a measure to create a curriculum for high schoolers to explore careers in energy and utilities.

One farm being planned by the company near the northern Indiana city of Peru would cost $19 million and have about 40,000 solar modules.