An effort to lower Central Indiana electric utility AES Indiana’s $71 million rate increase could be affected by a new lawsuit.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved that increase in a June 17 order, but fallout from the decision has not settled, and the body is under a timeline to act on two requests to reconsider the case.
In June, Gov. Mike Braun denounced the rate hike and demoted Chairman Andy Zay because it doesn’t align with his affordability agenda.
Customers have been speaking out to public officials about high utility bills. A commission investigation into the state’s five investor-owned electric utility’s billing practices heard complaints from about 700 people at public hearings and received 2,170 written comments and issued a report on its findings.
The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, which advocates for ratepayers, filed a petition asking the IURC to revisit AES’s rate increase on July 7. A consumer advocacy group, Citizens Action Coalition, also filed a petition.
State rules require the IURC to make a decision on petitions to reconsider rate cases within 60 days — or by Sept. 8 in the AES rate case — or they are considered denied.
Following the commission’s June decision to approve the rate increase, Commissioner David Veleta resigned in June, and on Aug. 3, the governor fired Commissioner Zay. Both commissioners voted to approve the rate increase.
Braun called for applicants who would “keep ratepayers front and center.” A nominating committee conducted a search for replacements. Braun appointed Joby Jerrells to replace Veleta and Joshua Bain to replace Zay.
Zay sued the governor and other parties on Aug. 10 in the Marion Superior Court. In his complaint, Zay argued he was unlawfully removed from the IURC and that the governor’s replacement, former Indianapolis City-County Councilor Joshua Bain, is invalid. Zay wants the courts to remove Bain from his seat and reinstate him as commissioner.
On Wednesday, AES attorneys asked the IURC to refrain from making a decision on the petitions to reconsider the rate case because of Zay’s lawsuit.
“AES respectfully moves that the Commission take no action (on the OUCC and CAC Petitions or otherwise) that would diminish the relief granted to AES Indiana by the June 17 Order’s settlement approval, and in which Mr. Bain participates as a member of the Commission and Mr. Zay does not,” the attorneys said in a legal filing.
Judge Christina Klineman set a hearing in Zay’s case for late August.
The OUCC separately filed a notice of appeal of the rate case with the Indiana Court of Appeals on July 17 and moved to stay the case on July 20 pending the IURC’s decision on its petition. The court granted a temporary stay on July 27, requiring the OUCC to either dismiss its appeal with prejudice or file a status report on the IURC case within 30 days.
In the meantime, new rates are effective for AES customers.
Contact WFYI data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org.
