AES Indiana Rate Case Closes at a Compressed ROE, Then the Commission Chair Changes

The IURC voted 3-1 on June 17 to approve a $71 million annual revenue increase for AES Indiana, with Commissioner Deig dissenting. The commission cut AES's allowed return on equity from the settled 10.7% down to 9.5%, below AES's current 9.9%, while locking the utility into a rate freeze that bars a new base case until 2029 and new rates until 2030. AES must finance the Petersburg coal-to-gas repowering (due December 2026) and the 85-megawatt Crossvine Solar and Storage project (due mid-2027) entirely inside that freeze.

Within days of the order, Governor Braun replaced Chairman Zay with Commissioner Anthony Swinger, who is recused from 20 pending dockets tied to his prior work at the OUCC, including the AES case itself. Braun is simultaneously calling for OUCC rehearing of the AES order, while the OUCC is already pursuing Duke Energy Indiana for an estimated $86.5 million in excess annual collections. The new chair cannot touch the AES rehearing path or the NIPSCO-Genco docket ecosystem, leaving Indiana's two highest-exposure regulatory proceedings to the remaining commissioners at the exact moment the governor is signaling he wants those orders revisited. If you hold a large-load contract or special rate with any Indiana investor-owned utility, get a read now on whether a rehearing filing could reopen terms you considered final.