Governor Braun fired IURC Commissioner Andy Zay on August 3, and with Commissioner David Veleta departing later this summer, the AES Indiana utility rate case rehearing is now heading toward a vote with a panel that may seat as few as three commissioners. For Indiana C&I operators, the practical consequence is that the return-on-equity benchmark your 2027 electricity budget is built on is no longer a settled number. Three other developments landed alongside it — a federal lawsuit over a Spencer County coal plant, month two of the BP Whiting lockout, and a new plastics compounder in Evansville.

The Indiana Utility Rate Case Rehearing Now Runs Through a Three-Commissioner Panel

The Indiana State Personnel Department cited three violations in Zay's removal: failure to file a required financial disclosure after his June demotion from chair, improperly awarding payments and gifts to employees, and directing staff to alter a public meeting agenda without consulting new Chair Anthony Swinger. The arithmetic is what matters. The June 16 vote approving AES Indiana's $71 million increase — down from an original $192.9 million request — was 3-to-1, and Zay was one of the yes votes. Veleta, also a yes vote, is leaving. That leaves Swinger recused on the AES matter, Commissioner Deig (the lone no vote), and Commissioner Ziegner trying to reach a majority on a rehearing where the OUCC originally recommended a $21.2 million rate reduction. The Citizens Action Coalition holds non-settling intervenor status in Cause No. 46258, so it retains independent procedural standing even if the vote count deadlocks. Swinger's commission is also running formal investigations into return on equity and tracker mechanisms under House Enrolled Act 1002, targeting year-end completion. If you're on Duke Indiana or NIPSCO and your 2027 budget assumes a rate case lands near the current 9.5% ROE benchmark, model a scenario where that number comes down first.

Rokita Sues AEP to Block the 2028 Rockport Coal Plant Closure

Attorney General Todd Rokita filed suit in federal court on August 1 to stop the scheduled 2028 shutdown of a generating unit at the Rockport Power Plant in Spencer County, targeting a federal consent decree that has been modified five times over eleven years. AEP is the sole defendant. The durable legal hook is stranded cost: prior modifications required I&M to install pollution controls at Rockport funded by Indiana ratepayers, and an on-schedule retirement of Unit 1 strands those investments. Meanwhile I&M has a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity pending before the IURC for a 1,520-megawatt gas facility — the Rockport Energy Center — on the same site, with a decision expected in early 2027. If your Southern Indiana power cost model assumed Rockport Unit 1 exits in 2028, that date is now contested.

BP Whiting Lockout Enters Month Two With a 56-Year Bargaining Framework Broken

BP has locked out roughly 800 United Steelworkers Local 7-1 members at Whiting — the largest refinery in the Midwest by capacity — and is running on replacement workers. BP broke from the USW National Oil Bargaining Program, the 56-year framework Marathon Petroleum accepted on behalf of 26 companies covering about two-thirds of U.S. refinery capacity, including a 15% wage increase and a $2,500 signing bonus. BP's proposal includes wage reductions across most job classifications and a 150-day strike-notice requirement. The USW has filed 15 unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB. Unplanned Whiting outages have historically driven PADD 2 diesel basis higher within days, and running a refinery of that scale on replacement contractors carries process safety risk worth a line on your register now.

Qualis Engineered Plastics Opens at 1700 Lynch Road in Evansville

A new custom compounder is launching in Vanderburgh County with 30 jobs, $400,000 in IEDC performance-based credits, ten bulk-resin silos, and a CSX rail spur — entering the market as Polyram completes its own $12 million Evansville expansion. A specialty plastics cluster is forming in Southwest Indiana. If you source specialty compounds from long-haul suppliers, Qualis is worth evaluating, but validate their quality system and PPAP capability before qualifying them into a critical BOM.

Questions for Your Morning Huddle

Q: Does the AES Indiana rate rehearing affect my electricity bill if I'm not an AES customer?
A: Yes, indirectly. The reconstituted commission under Chair Swinger is also investigating return on equity and tracker mechanisms that apply to all five Indiana investor-owned utilities, so a Duke Indiana or NIPSCO rate case filed in 2027 could land against a different benchmark than the 9.5% ROE approved for AES.

Q: Should we change our 2028 power cost model because of the Rockport lawsuit?
A: Not yet, but flag the assumption in writing. If your Southern Indiana modeling assumed Rockport Unit 1 retires in 2028, that retirement date is now in active federal litigation, and I&M has a 1,520-megawatt gas plant pending before the IURC on the same site with a decision expected in early 2027.

Q: What is our exposure if the BP Whiting lockout disrupts fuel supply?
A: Whiting is the largest refinery in the Midwest by capacity, and unplanned outages there have historically pushed PADD 2 diesel basis higher within days. If your diesel procurement runs through the Midwest PADD 2 market, add the lockout to your risk register and confirm whether your fuel contracts are indexed or fixed.

The tracker mechanisms now under IURC investigation are the same line items that reset on your bill between rate cases with limited review. For how one of the largest of them actually works, read our breakdown of fuel adjustment charges for Indiana C&I operators, and see our earlier report on the IURC investigation into Indiana utility tracker charges for the procedural background. If you want a structured way to stress-test your 2027 and 2028 electricity budget against a moving ROE benchmark, start with the TEG Energy Decision Blueprint.

‍