Sec. 5. (a) As a condition for receiving the certificate required under section 2 of this chapter, the applicant shall file an estimate of construction, purchase, or lease costs in such detail as the commission may require.

(b) The commission shall hold a public hearing on each such application. The commission may consider all relevant information related to construction, purchase, or lease costs. A certificate shall be granted only if the commission has:

(1) made a finding as to the best estimate of construction, purchase, or lease costs based on the evidence of record;

(2) made a finding that either:

(A) the construction, purchase, or lease will be consistent with the commission's analysis (or such part of the analysis as may then be developed, if any) for expansion of electric generating capacity; or

(B) the construction, purchase, or lease is consistent with a utility specific proposal submitted under section 3(e)(1) of this chapter and approved under subsection (d). However, if the commission has developed, in whole or in part, an analysis for the expansion of electric generating capacity and the applicant has filed and the commission has approved under subsection (d) a utility specific proposal submitted under section 3(e)(1) of this chapter, the commission shall make a finding under this clause that the construction, purchase, or lease is consistent with the commission's analysis, to the extent developed, and that the construction, purchase, or lease is consistent with the applicant's plan under section 3(e)(1) of this chapter, to the extent the plan was approved by the commission;

(3) made a finding that the public convenience and necessity require or will require the construction, purchase, or lease of the facility;

(4) made a finding that the facility, if it is a coal-consuming facility, utilizes Indiana coal or is justified, because of economic considerations or governmental requirements, in using non-Indiana coal; and

(5) made the findings under subsection (e), if applicable.

(c) If:

(1) the commission grants a certificate under this chapter based upon a finding under subsection (b)(2) that the construction, purchase, or lease of a generating facility is consistent with the commission's analysis for the expansion of electric generating capacity; and

(2) a court finally determines that the commission analysis is invalid;

the certificate shall remain in full force and effect if the certificate was also based upon a finding under subsection (b)(2) that the construction, purchase, or lease of the facility was consistent with a utility specific plan submitted under section 3(e)(1) of this chapter and approved under subsection (d).

(d) The commission shall consider and approve, in whole or in part, or disapprove a utility specific proposal or an amendment thereto jointly with an application for a certificate under this chapter. However, such an approval or disapproval shall be solely for the purpose of acting upon the pending certificate for the construction, purchase, or lease of a facility for the generation of electricity.

(e) This subsection applies if an applicant proposes to construct a facility with a generating capacity of more than eighty (80) megawatts. Before granting a certificate to the applicant, the commission:

(1) must, in addition to the findings required under subsection (b), find that:

(A) the estimated costs of the proposed facility are, to the extent commercially practicable, the result of competitively bid engineering, procurement, or construction contracts, as applicable; and

(B) if the applicant is an electricity supplier (as defined in IC 8-1-37-6), the applicant allowed or will allow third parties to submit firm and binding bids for the construction of the proposed facility on behalf of the applicant that met or meet all of the technical, commercial, and other specifications required by the applicant for the proposed facility so as to enable ownership of the proposed facility to vest with the applicant not later than the date on which the proposed facility becomes commercially available; and

(2) shall also consider the following factors:

(A) Reliability.

(B) Solicitation by the applicant of competitive bids to obtain purchased power capacity and energy from alternative suppliers.

The applicant, including an affiliate of the applicant, may participate in competitive bidding described in this subsection.

As added by P.L.43-1983, SEC.12. Amended by P.L.88-1985, SEC.10; P.L.53-1992, SEC.4; P.L.210-2014, SEC.1; P.L.246-2015, SEC.2; P.L.264-2017, SEC.4.