The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission questioned the state’s five investor-owned utility companies at a public hearing Tuesday, initiating the first phase of an investigation into rising energy costs and bill transparency.
The commission, which oversees utility rates and services across the state, said it has received a record number of customer complaints about bills this year. Leaders of each utility gave presentations in Indianapolis, followed by questions from IURC Chair Andy Zay, four other commissioners and state Utility Consumer Counselor Abby Gray.
“We have a real short-term crisis here,” Zay said, asking AES Indiana what solutions it could offer. “The reality is, on Main Street, there are people that simply can’t afford to pay these bills, whether they’re higher or consistent or not.”
Combined, the five companies provide electricity to about 2.6 million customers across the state: AES Indiana, Duke Energy Indiana, Northern Indiana Public Service Company, or NIPSCO, Indiana Michigan Power and CenterPoint Energy Indiana.
AES Indiana acknowledged it experienced more customer calls and those customers faced longer wait times.
The IURC’s consumer affairs division has had difficulty reaching the company. Zay noted his staff has a duty to follow up in 14 days and that the commission has not been receiving a response from AES to close cases within 30 days.
“Like you, our staff is sitting on hundreds and hundreds of open cases right now, in fact, working overtime and comp time on weekends to try and get those issues resolved,” Zay said. “So we really need your collaboration, and really the industry’s collaboration.”
Since Jan. 1, AES Indiana performed nearly 3,000 customer-requested meter checks, said President Brandi Davis-Handy. All of them were “100% operational” and there were “no errors.”
She said several factors drive bill increases, including infrastructure costs and customers’ individual usage. Weather also plays a role, she said, especially during the coldest and hottest months of the year. She said this past winter was colder than recent years.
AES Indiana said costs from its parent company’s recently announced acquisition by BlackRock will not be passed along to customers.
Davis-Handy also said costs related to transmission for data centers are not currently being passed to ratepayers.
But recently, the state treasurer raised concerns the sale would not benefit customers.
“If one of these large-load customers were never to add a megawatt to the grid, they are on the hook for the cost incurred for both the generation, the transmission, and the distribution that we are building out,” Davis-Handy said. “Even if they leave early, they’re on the hook.”
That means large commercial customers, including data centers, are responsible for infrastructure costs even if they reduce their energy costs or leave the service area.
Indiana communities are raising concerns about how data centers will affect their utility costs as more are approved for development. Lawmakers recently pressured the IURC to look into NIPSCO’s rates after an uptick in complaints from constituents.
And the state legislature recently passed an overhaul of the ratemaking system that included some protections for residential customers.
During the hearing, the company announced new measures to assist customers in addition to some already in place: it extended its winter disconnection moratorium to May 15, 2026 and it will waive reconnect fees for eligible customers.
The IURC investigation’s second phase will consist of 10 community listening sessions across the state, from March 26 through April 22. Zay said that he wants to hear from the public — including residential, commercial and industrial ratepayers.
After the second phase is complete, the commission will decide next steps, which could include formal or informal actions. Formal actions must be voted on by commissioners at the weekly public meeting.
Contact WFYI data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org