AES rate hike fight continues with reshuffled refs
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A $71 million rate hike looming over more than a half million AES Indiana customers is caught between dueling legal challenges and a major leadership shakeup.
Why it matters: Last month's approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission ticked off residents, consumer advocates, state representatives and even Gov. Mike Braun.
Catch up quick: The IURC approved the increase in a 3-1 vote on June 17.
- While significantly less than the $193 million the company originally requested in June 2025, the base rate adjustment is enough to add nearly $5 per month to the typical household's bill.
- Braun and others swiftly panned the decision, especially in light of the state launching investigations to bring utility costs under control.
- Formal action followed on July 7 when the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) and consumer advocacy organization Citizens Action Coalition (CAC) filed petitions for rehearing or reconsideration.
The latest: AES issued a response to those petitions on July 17, and the OUCC and CAC filed a joint rebuttal on Friday.
Zoom in: The OUCC and CAC say the commission leaned on comparisons like AES's rates against other utilities that are legally irrelevant when making its decision.
- On AES's lengthy rebuttal, the OUCC said the utility spent "over 70 pages" largely "restating their arguments, distorting the record evidence and marginalizing affordability concerns."
- CAC also wants the record reopened over AES's pending Google data center deal in Monrovia, and the announced buyout of AES's parent company by a BlackRock-led investor group.
The other side: AES insists the petitions relitigate what's already been decided while highlighting its concessions.
- That includes a commission-ordered return on equity of 9.5% — "the lowest ROE authorized currently for an Indiana electric utility" — and argues those aren't "the actions of a utility, much less a Commission, that ignores or underemphasizes affordability."
- AES also says the data center wouldn't be running until after the test year closes, and the BlackRock buyout is legally out of the commission's reach.
State of play: Braun's disappointment with the IURC decision led to more-than-spicy tweets.
- He demoted IURC chairman Andy Zay and installed commissioner Anthony Swinger.
- Commissioner David Veleta resigned shortly after, and Braun tapped attorney Joby Jerrells to fill that seat on July 22.
- That makes two of the five commissioners considering the case's fate new or newly promoted, and they're led by a chairman who abstained from the original vote over his previous OUCC work.
What's next: The IURC can uphold, tweak, reopen or reverse the order. But it must act by Sept. 8 or the petitions are automatically denied.