INDIANA — State Sen. Eric Koch (R-Bedford) will serve as chair of the Interim Study Committee on Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications to prepare for the 2024 legislative session.
This year, the committee will:
- Review the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs’ (OCRA) report on broadband deployment;
- Review OCRA’s briefing on the federal Broadband Equity Access Development program;
- Study the briefing on the state of the CenterPoint Securitization Pilot Program;
- Study the briefing on the potential impact of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed power emissions rulemaking;
- Review MISO’s report on the reliability forecast and sloped demand curve during capacity auctions;
- Study the briefing on the Purdue University and Duke Energy small modular reactor feasibility study; and
- Review the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s report on the supply, demand and consumer price outlooks in the near- and long-term future.
Legislators will meet over the summer and fall months to discuss topics approved by the bipartisan Legislative Council, which is comprised of 16 voting members – eight from the Senate and eight from the House of Representatives.
To view study committee agendas and stream hearings online, visit iga.in.gov. To view a list of topics that will be examined by the committees, click here.
Koch, chair of the Senate Committee on Utilities, holds a graduate certificate in Energy Policy Planning from the University of Idaho. He serves as co-chair of the Energy Supply Task Force of the National Conference of State Legislatures and as a member of the Executive Committee of the National Council on Electricity Policy. He was a member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee. He focuses on energy, water, and telecommunications policy interactions in Indiana and nationally. Koch can be reached via email at Senator.Koch@iga.in.gov or by phone at 800-382-9467.
