NIPSCO is asking the state to approve a settlement it negotiated with large industrial customers that will allow the utility to create a subsidiary called GenCo that would provide the capacity and service future data centers would need.

The Merrillville-based gas and electric utility wants to spin off a separate company to provide power to data centers, huge clusters of computer servers that can consume more energy than steel mills. The proposal is a first of its kind nationally at a time when data centers are being constructed all over the country to support online activities, especially the rising use of energy-intensive artificial intelligence.

GenCo would negotiate rates directly with large data center operators instead of going through the traditional public hearing process to get t

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