Gov. Mike Braun swiftly appointed Joshua Bain Thursday to fill a vacancy on the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission after he fired one of its five members Monday.
The appointment is the latest turn in the fallout from the commission's June decision to approve a $71 million rate increase for AES Indiana, the investor-owned utility that serves the Indianapolis area — a case Bain has history with. As an Indianapolis City-County Council member, he co-sponsored a resolution last October urging AES to withdraw its rate request and calling on the IURC to reject it if the company proceeded.
The five-member commission presides over rate change cases from utility companies in the state and is bound by state code to balance the interests of utility companies and ratepayers in its decisions. It must also balance the state’s five pillars of energy policy — reliability, resilience, stability, affordability and environmental sustainability.
Bain is a Republican Indianapolis City-County Council member and oversees government affairs for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. He was selected from a pool of applicants screened by a nominating committee to replace the vacancy left by a different commissioner earlier this month. Bain previously applied to be a commissioner in October 2025.
“As families and businesses continue to feel the pressure of rising costs, it's essential that we have leaders who will be ratepayer conscience,” Braun said in a statement. “Joshua Bain brings experience in energy policy, environmental stewardship, and collaboration across government and local communities. I am confident he will serve with integrity and keep affordability and the public interest at the forefront of every decision.”
The governor’s office said the appointment was effective immediately.
Bain is Executive Director for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at IDEM He previously worked as Midwest director for the Center for Energy Education, a nonprofit group focused on renewable energy research, education and community engagement.
Bain did not respond to a WFYI request for an interview.
The move is the latest in the fallout from the commission’s June decision to approve a $71 million rate increase for AES Indiana, an investor-owned company that provides electric utility service for the Indianapolis area.
AES Indiana rate case
In the rate case, AES agreed to lower its requested rate increase in a settlement with several intervening companies last October. The commission modified that settlement in its June order, reducing the rate increase to the final $71 million.
After the commission’s 3-1 vote on the rate increase, Braun denounced the decision and demoted his appointed chairman, former Republican state senator Andy Zay. Zay voted for the AES rate increase after he led a commission investigation into the billing practices of the state’s five investor-owned electric utility companies.
Braun called on the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor — the state’s utility watchdog — to challenge the commission’s decision. He appointed commissioner Anthony Swinger, who abstained from the rate case due to prior work with the OUCC, to serve as chair while Zay remained on the body.
Commissioner David Veleta, who also voted for the rate increase, resigned from the commission in June, setting off a process to find his replacement. Braun said he wanted applicants who would “keep ratepayers front and center.”
In July, the OUCC filed a petition for rehearing and reconsideration, arguing the state didn’t keep affordability in mind or fully consider evidence. Citizens Action Coalition, a consumer advocacy group, also filed a petition. AES wants the challenges denied.
Bain had applied for the earlier vacancy left by Veleta’s resignation. He was nominated but not selected. Braun chose attorney Joby Jerrells, who works for the Indiana attorney general’s office, to fill that seat.
Monday, the governor fired Zay. Zay was dismissed because he allegedly violated state policy by “failing to file a required financial disclosure after his removal as Chair, improperly awarding payments and personal gifts to employees, and directing staff to alter a public meeting agenda without consulting the new Chair,” according to the State Personnel Department.
Zay did not respond to a WFYI request for an interview.
The commission was scheduled to consider the petition to rehear or reconsider the AES rate case Wednesday. Tuesday, the commission published an amended meeting agenda that removed that item. The IURC must make a decision on the challenges to the AES rate case by Sep. 8, or they are considered denied.
The nominating committee met Thursday afternoon and gave Braun three more choices. From those, Braun selected Bain later that day.
Indianapolis resolution on AES
When Bain first applied to the IURC last year, he was serving as an Indianapolis City-County Council Member. The AES rate case was before the commission and Indianapolis council members were hearing from city residents about the increasing cost of utility bills.
Bain co-sponsored a resolution adopted by the City-County Council in a unanimous vote on Oct. 6, which urged “AES Indiana to withdraw its pending rate increase petition, and further urges the Indiana Utility Regulator Commission to reject the petition should AES proceed, in order to protect Hoosier ratepayers from additional financial burdens.”
Members of the nominating committee asked Bain in his interview on Oct. 30 about his ability to serve as utility commissioner with impartiality after voting for that resolution. Bain said he believes it wouldn’t present a conflict of interest. He said any party bringing a matter before the IURC “absolutely has a right to a fair and impartial hearing and judgment” and would defer to legal counsel.
He said his job as city council member was to reflect the interests of District 21, which he said motivated his vote on the resolution.
“If I was not involved in that decision — I mean, I was forced to,” Bain said. “I’m not necessarily the one that introduced it, but when you’re on council or you’re in elected office, and even if you’re here on the commission, you don’t necessarily get to choose what comes before you.”
He added that his constituents would have had every right to question why he did not support the council’s resolution on the AES rate case.
“That being said, I will certainly compartmentalize my role, and you have to shut off some of those things if you’re a commissioner,” he said.
Bain’s second interview
Bain told the nominating committee July 16 he thinks when one of the state’s five energy pillars is out-of-balance, “that’s when you see a lot of stress.”
He said he thinks it’s important that the IURC “moves at the speed of business” to fix problems the state’s energy sector faces such as economic and load growth, including from data centers. Data centers represent an opportunity for the state, in Bain’s view.
As an Indianapolis council member, he said the area he represents was approved for a data center and his first questions were if they would pay for 100% of their energy use, including costs to build substations and transmission to them. “This doesn’t have to be a boogeyman. It can actually help lower your utility bill. We can even get into property taxes if you want.”
Affordability may be top of mind, he said, but it comes alongside fixing economic development.
“It’s important for the commission to be modern, be quick, be able to adapt and be nimble,” he said.
As commissioner, Bain said he would continue to support Braun’s agenda of an “all the above” energy policy that includes coal, gas, new nuclear energy technology and renewable resources.
“Right here, we serve at the pleasure of the governor. The governor is the appointing body. It’s your job to implement that agenda in a legally viable way,” he said.
Contact WFYI data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org.
