A utility is planning $478 million in infrastructure improvements at Cook Nuclear Plant in southwestern Michigan and is asking for higher rates to help pay for it.

Indiana Michigan Power has submitted a $600 million plan to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission it says would create a smarter energy grid for the Hoosier state.

The Office of Utility Consumer Counselor is recommending approval of a $125 million rate increase.

The cities, including Mishawaka and New Carlisle in Indiana, all belong to the Indiana Michigan Municipal Distributors Association.

Some, like Indianapolis Power and Light's plant in Indianapolis, are converting to run on natural gas.

Indiana Michigan Power runs the plant, which is located along Lake Michigan in Berrien County's Lake Township, near Bridgman, Michigan.

Coal industry representatives in Indiana, one of the nation's top coal-producing states, say the Supreme Court's stay of the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan has little immediate effect on the state.

Electric utilities reported at least 25,000 outages Tuesday morning scattered across the northern third of the state, a day after freezing rain and high winds took down trees and power lines.