AES Indiana Rate Rehearing (Cause No. 46258): The January Increase Is Locked

The rehearing on AES Indiana's $71 million base rate increase (IURC Cause No. 46258) now has a procedural schedule. Attorneys for AES Indiana, the OUCC, Citizens Action Coalition, the City of Indianapolis, and several industrial customers agreed to a one-day evidentiary hearing in early March 2027. That means any new IURC order comes at the earliest in mid-2027.

What this means for Indiana manufacturers: Phase 2 of the rate increase (worth approximately $8.50 per month for a residential customer, with a proportionally larger hit on industrial accounts) takes effect in January 2027, and the OUCC did not request a stay. IURC spokesman Ben Gavelek has confirmed that even with rehearing, reversal is not guaranteed.

The sharpest issue in the case record is this: Citizens Action Coalition documented that AES Indiana executed its first agreement with Google for the Monrovia data center more than a week before filing rebuttal testimony in the rate case (and a second agreement nearly a month before the evidentiary hearing began) without filing a correction to sworn testimony. CAC's argument is that the commission approved the rate structure without a complete record. The IURC has not yet ruled on that allegation. But whatever the rehearing produces sets your industrial rate floor through 2030. AES Indiana has committed not to file another base rate request until then.

What to do now: Build the Phase 2 cost increase into your 2027 energy budget, that increase is three to four months from taking effect. Then audit every demand-response and interruptible-service option you have with AES Indiana before January. If you have not modeled the exposure, start there.

For more on how to read these rate cases and what C&I operators can actually do during an IURC proceeding, see Utility Rate Case Intervention for Commercial & Industrial Operators.