Customers of AES Indiana, the electric utility serving Indianapolis and the surrounding area, could see a rate hike reconsidered after the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission voted 3-1 Wednesday to rehear a case it approved in June.
The reconsideration could delay or unwind parts of the rate increase, which began raising bills for AES Indiana’s roughly over 533,000 Central Indiana customers. It also comes amid new scrutiny over a proposed Google data center’s power demands and the utility’s pending sale to a BlackRock-led investor group.
The state’s utility watchdog — the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor — filed a petition with the IURC in early July requesting the rehearing. Citizens Action Coalition, a consumer advocacy group, also filed a petition drawing attention to the Google data center project in Monrovia and the announced acquisition of AES’s parent company, the AES Corporation, by the investment group.
The IURC’s vote granted the OUCC’s petition for reconsideration and Citizens Action Coalition’s petition for rehearing on both the data center project and the BlackRock acquisition. A commissioner shared oral remarks at the meeting.
"Although the commission has no jurisdiction to approve or deny the merger itself, the merger could have an impact on operations and performance of AES, over which we do have jurisdiction,” said newly-appointed commissioner Joby Jerrells, who was assigned as a presiding officer on the case. “Thus we should be open to any evidence relevant to that specific issue.”
Jerrells was appointed to replace former Commissioner David Veleta, who resigned after he voted for the June rate increase, a decision Gov. Mike Braun then publicly denounced. Jerrells voted to approve the commission’s order.
“I've reviewed all the previous hearing testimony as well as the filings, questions remain for me. Despite the recent turnover on the commission, we have an ongoing duty to review cases until our work is done. What is pending here are petitions for rehearing and reconsideration, which are specifically authorized by our rules. Thus, our work is not yet done,” Jerrells said.
The other newly appointed commissioner, Joshua Bain, voted to approve the commission’s order. Bain was appointed to the commission after Braun fired former Commissioner Andy Zay last month, who had previously voted in support of the June rate hike.
Bain previously served as an Indianapolis City-County councilor. During that time, he co-sponsored a city resolution against AES’s rate case. He issued a concurring opinion that explained he had conferred with the IURC’s ethics counsel before voting on the orders for rehearing and reconsideration.
Bob Deig, another commissioner who voted against the June rate hike, joined Jerrells and Bain in the commission’s vote to approve the case review Wednesday. David Ziegner, another commissioner who voted for the June rate increase, opposed the commission’s Wednesday order and issued a dissenting opinion.
IURC Chairman Anthony Swinger, who previously recused himself from the AES rate case, abstained from Wednesday’s decision. That ongoing recusal is due to prior work Swinger had done for the OUCC on AES’s petition. He told reporters Wednesday that he had not seen the order prior to the commission’s meeting.
The commission scheduled a prehearing conference and preliminary hearing at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 17 at the PNC Center in Indianapolis.
Contact WFYI data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org
