INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana's utility regulators will take a second look at a $71 million rate increase for AES Indiana, but a decision on whether to reduce it will likely come after customers are paying the full increase, Indiana Public Media reported. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission agreed Sept. 2 to reconsider the hike, and a Sept. 30 order limited new evidence to the Google Monrovia data center project and the BlackRock-backed acquisition of AES's parent company, according to Indiana Public Media.
Key facts
- The IURC approved the $71 million increase in June on a 3-1 vote; Gov. Mike Braun denounced it and later replaced two commissioners who voted for it, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle and Indiana Public Media.
- A Sept. 30 order limited the rehearing evidence to the Google Monrovia data center and the BlackRock-led acquisition, and how each affects AES's revenues, cost allocation and rates, per Indiana Public Media.
- Customers are paying the first, smaller step of the increase now, and the larger step arrives in January, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.
- Settlement parties file testimony by Oct. 23, the consumer counselor and CAC by Jan. 12, 2027, and rebuttals are due Feb. 11, per Indiana Public Media.
- The Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism and the Limestone Post found NDAs in seven of 46 Indiana data center projects they studied, including signed NDAs in New Carlisle and Morgan County, per the Limestone Post.
The money moves first
Phase one, under $1 a month for a household using 1,000 kilowatt-hours, took effect July 27, IURC spokesman Ben Gavelek told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. AES Indiana estimates phase two, due in January, at about $8.50 a month for that household. If the review isn't settled first, the commission will hold a hearing March 11, Indiana Public Media reported. Gavelek said rates take effect even with an appeal pending unless a stay is sought and remain "subject to refund" if a court overturns the order; the consumer counselor's office did not ask for a stay.
The two developments
The Citizens Action Coalition says AES downplayed the chance of a large data center entering its territory during the rate case while signing agreements with Google, one more than a week before AES filed rebuttal testimony and another nearly a month before the evidentiary hearing, Indiana Public Media reported.
"This is very unusual," CAC program director Ben Inskeep told Indiana Public Media. "We don't often have rate cases like this where the commission agrees to reconsider its already determined order and reopen the case to take more evidence." The second development: In March, AES announced its parent company would be acquired by investors including BlackRock.
The secrecy playbook
Google's Monrovia project site now totals 549 acres in Morgan County after an additional rezoning in October 2025, the Limestone Post reported. Residents got little notice about the original 400-acre plans, and it was months before they learned the builder was Google, because the county commissioners had signed an NDA keeping the owner's name private until the deal was complete. "We really didn't have a lot of time to even react to it," Monrovia resident Gina Madsen told the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism and the Limestone Post. "Even if we had reacted, which some people did ... voices were not heard."
The Wyoming contrast
Black Hills Corp. signed agreements running through 2048 to serve Google's planned data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the deal requires Google to cover the full cost of supplying its electricity rather than passing it on to other customers, Reuters reported. CAC says the Google load could change how AES's costs are divided among customers, though it is not alleging residential customers are currently paying Google-related costs, Indiana Public Media reported.
Why it matters for NWI
Members of the New Carlisle Town Council signed NDAs with Amazon representatives over a proposed $11 billion data center campus northwest of South Bend, according to records obtained by the Arnolt Center. In LaPorte County, where Microsoft plans a data center, local officials did not sign NDAs with the company, the center's records requests found.
Photo credit
¹ Hero: File photo: Google's data center in The Dalles, Oregon, in 2020. Photo by Lambtron, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. ² Inline: File photo: A data center walkway in Southfield, Mich., in 2011. Photo by 123net, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. ³ Inline: File photo: Monrovia, Indiana, in 2016. Photo by Chris Flook, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.