Customer service, other frustrations also aired out

Indiana regulators on March 24 spent hours questioning the state’s biggest energy providers on their rates, customer service and more amid rising frustration from ratepayers.

Utility representatives testified that customer usage is the primary driver of high bills — linking factors like extreme temperatures, home insulation or appliance efficiency.

Action is coming, per Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission Chair Andy Zay.

“I’ll get in trouble for this, but I’ll say about 30 days, and give me some grace. It may be 45 or 60, but we’re not going to drag it out,” Zay told reporters. “… We’ve got to consolidate our efforts and look at what we have learned out of this experience and determine where we want to go.”

His agency is charged with ensuring that utilities — like the “big five” investor-owned firms serving most Hoosiers — provide safe, reliable energy at just and reasonable rates. 

In exchange for submitting to IURC oversight, the “big five” are monopolies in their exclusive territories. They include AES Indiana, CenterPoint Energy Indiana, Duke Energy Indiana, Indiana Michigan Power Co., and the Northern Indiana Public Service Co. 

Zay acknowledged his agency approved the rates customers have assailed.

“I’m not dismissing, I’m not … deflecting responsibility,” Zay said. “We have a role to play in this, absolutely … but that’s a culture we’re working on.”

What’s in a bill

The base rate makes up most of your electricity bill. It includes a charge for each kilowatt hour used, plus a flat charge for the utility’s fixed facilities and service costs. Stacked on top are a variety of fluctuating trackers for things like fuel expenses or transmission improvements.

About a third of the five-hour schedule was spent on utility presentations addressing pre-written IURC questions on affordability, transparency, growth, usage and so on.

AES Indiana President Brandi Davis-Handy noted her company’s residential bills have largely tracked inflation over time. Michael Roeder, CenterPoint’s Indiana president, touted a commitment to stable rates through 2027.

I&M President and Chief Operation Officer Steve Baker highlighted plans to seek a rate decrease in the first year of a newly authorized multi-year rate structure — and hold rates stable for the rest of the three-year arrangement.

Duke Energy Indiana, however, came out with the smallest bills in the IURC’s most recent point-in-time survey of residential customer bills. On July 1 last year, the average household using 1,000 kilowatts monthly paid Duke about $156, excluding taxes, or a 20% increase from the year prior. 

Such AES Indiana customers paid $158, a 12% hike, while I&M customers owed $167, a 4% rise. The priciest bills and highest increases came from CenterPoint — $221, a 25% increase — and NIPSCO, at $234 and a hike of 27%, according to the survey.

Federal orders to keep coal plants open could complicate affordability efforts for two utilities. NIPSCO representatives told regulators the forced operations could cost upwards of $100 million, with CenterPoint averaging about $1.2 million daily thus far.

Ownership

Bipartisan concern over the purchase of AES Indiana’s parent company by out-of-state and foreign investors featured prominently.

AES Indiana President Brandi Davis-Handy assured regulators that the pending acquisition would not affect customer rates.

“I think that they serve as a huge resource … to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to grow responsibly and maintain affordability for our customers,” she said. “And they have that commitment. They share that commitment.”

Zay said customers have lost trust in the energy industry as companies retire brick-and-mortar payment centers or become part of larger conglomerates. He noted that AES Corp., which acquired the former Indianapolis Power and Light in 2001, is based out of Virginia.

“AES Indiana is and has been headquartered right here in downtown Indianapolis, at 1 Monument Circle,” Davis-Handy emphasized. “I was born and raised in Indianapolis, so this is my home. I care passionately and am proud of the role that our company provides, of providing lights.”

Customer complaints

NIPSCO took heat for its volume of complaints to the IURC’s consumer affairs division.

“If you look at the total number of CAD complaints this year, it’s at the same level that it was for all 12 months (of) 2025,” Commissioner Anthony Swinger said — with more than half the complaints received statewide about NIPSCO.

Martina Marko, manager of customer care advisers, said she’s moved resources from parent company NiSource to help out with NIPSCO work, so that a NIPSCO team can focus exclusively on the CAD complaints.

Regulators said complaints about CenterPoint — the other major utility providing both electricity and gas service – were high, too. They suggested separating bills for the two services.

Swinger also pressed AES Indiana on responsiveness.

“I do believe that the heightened concern and comments around affordability have absolutely driven to higher call volume, longer calls, which equates to longer wait times,” Davis-Handy said. “And we apologize for that.”

The utility has worked to train its agents on “all the things that are driving increases in bills, so that they can get that information in front of customers as soon as possible,” she said. 

Zay said the IURC has had its own problems with long AES Indiana wait times. CAD employees are told to respond to any complaint within 48 hours and follow up within 14 days.

“The big part of that follow-up is contacting you, and we’re not getting responses from you in that time to ideally close all our cases within 30 days,” Zay said. “And like you, our staff is sitting on hundreds and hundreds of other cases right now — in fact, working overtime and comp time on weekends to try and get those issues resolved. So we really need your collaboration.”

In September, AES Indiana added about 30 agents to its now 240-member customer operations team, according to Davis-Handy. And within the last week, she said, she approved a new plan to grow staffing at the call center and the team that works with the IURC’s consumer affairs team.

Next steps

No public comments were taken March 24.

Zay said that’s why the IURC will embark on an affordability-themed listening tour this week, with 10 stops around the state. Utility customers are encouraged to bring copies of their utility bills, according to a news release.

Afterward, the IURC could choose to take informal or formal actions. 

Anything formal must occur at the agency’s weekly public meeting, where commissioners vote on orders. Those typically have longer timelines.

Zay was asked to respond to people skeptical that March 24’s hearing and the listening tour would lead to meaningful change.

“Consider the alternative — I’ll answer it kind of that way — and that’s do nothing,” he said. “… We will not do that.”

Zay and two other commissioners took office in January after being appointed by Gov. Mike Braun.

“I will continue fighting to protect ratepayers and bring down the cost of energy for Hoosier families,” Braun said in a statement posted to X before the meeting.

 This article originally was published by Indiana Capital Chronicle, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence.