Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) has reached an agreement with the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Amazon Data Services, Google, Microsoft, and the Data Center Coalition outlining the terms for connecting new large loads to the Indiana grid.

The settlement filed with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission will require new large-load customers, including data centers, to make long-term financial commitments proportionate to their size to ensure they pay for the costs to serve them and that those costs are not passed on to existing customers.

According to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC), the new requirements will enable I&M to optimize its existing and future investments to serve these new large loads, which is expected to reduce customer energy rates over time. In addition, the settlement will ensure that new investments will be recovered from large-load customers using the grid.

I&M will use the investment to support grid modernization efforts across the state.

The utility is currently talking with additional data center customers, who have also expressed an interest in locating in the northeast Indiana region.

“The terms in this agreement will ensure a balanced approach as those investments are made, protecting residential, commercial, and industrial customers from bearing the costs of new infrastructure necessary to serve new, large-volume customers,” said Indiana Utility Consumer counselor Bill Fine.

The Indiana market has seen substantial growth throughout 2024. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have all announced major campus projects in Indiana this year. Meta, US Signals, DataBank, Netrality, and Digital Crossroads also have a presence in Indiana.

However, there have been concerns that the sector's growth is unsustainable. In October, Indiana consumer and environmental advocacy organization Citizens Action Coalition (CAC) called for a moratorium on new hyperscale data centers that power artificial intelligence. It commenced a task force to study what policies should be adopted before lifting the moratorium.