In March 2020, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved AES's request to hike customer bills by $1.2 billion to upgrade its transmission and distribution grid, setting the stage for seven straight years of rate increases to pay for the improvements. Those increases are in addition to this new request. And now, there are concerns and questions about AES's quality of service when in late June and early July 2023, power to 80,000 AES customers was knocked out, and nearly 4,000 of those customers were without power for 5 whole days.

If AES has been using that money to improve the grid, why were so many customers without power for so long?

What are they doing with the $1.2 billion? AES does NOT deserve another massive rate increase.

In Cause Number 45911, AES is asking the IURC for permission to hike rates by over $23 per month so they can raise their annual operating revenues by $134.2 million, and significantly increase their profit margin.

In this case, AES wants to:

• Increase their authorized return on equity (profit) from 9.99% to 10.6%
• Increase the monthly fixed charge for most customers to $25 per month, a 49% increase. This would give AES the highest monthly fixed charge of any investor-owned monopoly utility in Indiana, by far.
• Increase the fixed charge for low usage customers (those using 325 kilowatt hours or less per month) by 34% to $16.50.
• Use their newly installed smart meters to remotely disconnect residential customers.
• Increase household reconnection fees from $44 to $51 ($64 to $80 for Sunday reconnections).
• Force Hoosier households to pay higher rates to subsidize lower rates for large commercial and industrial customers.
• Force customers to pay for the $5 million they're planning to spend on consultants and lawyers to help them argue for this rate increase.

AES wants to hike your monthly fixed charge by almost 50%.

As part of this rate hike, AES wants to hike your monthly fixed charge from $16.75 to $25. The monthly fixed charge is the amount you pay regardless of how much energy you use. 

AES also wants to continue using declining block rates, which reward customers using more energy with lower rates.

High fixed charges  and declining block rates disproportionately impact low- and fixed-income households (seniors, people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations). They also penalize households that conserve energy and make their homes more energy efficient.

AES Base Rates Comparison

for a customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month 

This is the core of your electric bill - what you are charged for fixed costs and usage fees. This part of your electric bill makes up about 90% of your current total AES bill. 

Trackers: the other 10% of your AES bill not included in "base rates."

These trackers, also called “riders,” are currently included in your AES bill, added to the average bill you see above. AES wants to include most of the amounts they’re currently collecting through trackers into “base rates” going forward. Then they want to file for new amounts to be collected through these trackers shortly after the IURC approves the new base rates. Except for the DSM tracker, how much the trackers will be on your monthly bill is unknown to everyone but AES.

Total AES Bill Comparison, Including Trackers: