Vectren wants to use some of the money from a proposed roughly $940 million rate increase to pay for a new natural gas plant at its station near Evansville. The increase would also pay for improvements to the company’s Cully 3 coal unit, among other things.

The natural gas plant would replace Vectren’s three coal units that will retire in 2023. The company says it’s also hopes to invest in some renewable energy.

Vectren communications director Natalie Hedde says Vectren is proposing a 50 megawatt solar farm in Spencer County that’s twice the size of the one at the Indianapolis International Airport.

“Vectren is heavily coal-fired and we think the diversification of our portfolio is the right thing to do,” says Hedde.

But Kerwin Olson, executive director of utility watchdog the Citizens Action Coalition, says Vectren doesn’t need the plant and instead could satisfy its customers’ needs while it investing in more renewable sources.

“In the wake of the moral crisis that is climate change, it’s unthinkable to us that we would continue to invest in dirty fossil fuels,” he says.

The CAC also claims Vectren is only building the plant to add value to the company before its bought by CenterPoint. Hedde says Vectren can’t comment on the terms of the acquisition, but that that was not the motivation behind building the plant.

Though some of the costs won’t show up on bills until 2023, Vectren expects customers will pay at least $5 to $8 more per month.

There will be a hearing on the rate increase July 11 at 6 p.m. at the University of Southern Indiana.