IURC Goes Through Motions with Big Five Utilities

Okay, so yesterday the IURC, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, met. They are the last line of defense in this case. They’re like France when we talk about a last line of defense, stepping in against the utility companies trying to raise your rates. We have seen massive spikes in utility bills over the past several years, and people have had enough. People are at a breaking point with utility bills, and rightfully so. It is ridiculous. The spike is just money out of your pocket. It’s not like your service is getting better. It’s not like you’re saying, “Man, my lights are so much brighter now. Sure my bill went up 30 percent, but look at these lights.” Or, “My heat is so much better.” No. It’s gross what has happened. The government is finally at least putting on a floor show, or dinner theater, about caring that this is happening. So the IURC, which recently had three new members appointed by the governor, essentially mandated the big five utilities to come forward. There are five investor-owned utilities in Indiana. They are for profit. We have laid out the massive profits these utilities have seen over the past several years. Those big five are AES, CenterPoint Energy, Duke Energy, Indiana Michigan Power Company, and the Northern Indiana Public Service Company. By the way, the Indiana Capital Chronicle has a big article about this meeting if you want to go back and read about it from yesterday. So they went in front of the IURC yesterday, and they did exactly what I expected. No real ownership of what’s going on. No real sympathy or empathy of any sort toward the people and what they’ve been forced to endure. And no real plan to ensure that over the long haul this stops. One of the reasons I’m so angry about this is that these utilities exist because of the monopoly given to them by the government. If I could shop my utility the way I shop my internet, or just about anything else, I wouldn’t be as upset. At least then I would have an opportunity to get something better. But I can’t. The monopoly is given by the government. So yes, I get really upset when these companies’ profit margins keep rising. There was a story recently, I think from the Capital Chronicle, showing that utility profit has gone from 13 cents for every dollar consumed to 15 cents. Why does a utility that only exists because of a government-granted monopoly get to take more money from me? More profit from me? That doesn’t sit well with me, and it doesn’t sit well with anyone else. According to the Capital Chronicle, the utilities primarily deflected, denied, and tried to claim that customer usage is the primary driver of higher bills. Wait a second. Is their argument really that consumers are just using more electricity than they used to? I think I’m using less. Every winter I lower the thermostat a little more. In the summer I raise it up. I don’t think I’m using more electricity. I’m the kind of person who turns the lights off everywhere. If we’re talking about power usage, did they say the D word? Data centers. How much did that come up in the hearing? Here’s something the Capital Chronicle did a good job explaining. They broke down how your power bill is actually calculated. Have you ever tried to read your electric bill? It’s like reading Chinese. Here’s how they explained it. 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. Now this is where things start getting questionable. The charge for each kilowatt hour—that’s the electricity you’re actually using. I don’t have a problem paying for that. But the second part, the flat charge for fixed facilities and service costs, exists because they are a monopoly. They can do it because all they have to do is get the government to approve it. What do utilities do? They give a lot of money to politicians. We’ve laid out before that the Indiana Economic Development Foundation funds travel for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. And who funds that foundation? Utility companies. Utilities give money to this nonprofit foundation, which then does the bidding of the IEDC. Meanwhile, the IURC, which is appointed by the governor, decides whether utilities get to raise rates. And they’ve basically been a rubber stamp for the past decade. Stacked on top of the base rate are a variety of fluctuating trackers. Fuel expenses. Transmission improvements. You always love hearing that your ability to afford the lights in your house depends on fluctuating trackers. If gas costs more or other fuels cost more, that cost gets passed directly to you. This entire utility system in Indiana is a colossal scam. You are getting ripped off. You are getting screwed. You are getting screwed by politicians and by a government that accepts money from these utility companies. If you think the IURC is going to do anything meaningful, you’re dreaming. If you think the governor is going to allow the IURC to do anything meaningful, you’re dreaming. Do you really think politicians who get money from power companies are going to allow meaningful change? Of course not. The Capital Chronicle also noted how much each utility company is charging customers, and it’s worth looking at because wherever you are in Indiana, there’s a good chance one of these companies serves you. Duke Energy Indiana had the smallest bills in the IURC’s most recent survey of residential customers. As of July 1, 2025, the average household using 1,000 kilowatt hours monthly paid about $156 before taxes. And don’t forget, you get taxed on top of the bill, because the government is not going to skip its share. That $156 represented about a 20 percent increase from the prior year. AES customers paid about $158, which was a 12 percent increase. Indiana Michigan Power customers paid around $167, about a 4 percent increase. The most expensive bills came from CenterPoint and NIPSCO. CenterPoint averaged about $221, which was a 25 percent increase. NIPSCO averaged about $234, which was a 27 percent increase. It is ridiculous that companies providing the exact same service can charge such dramatically different prices. If this were a free market, you could just choose Duke if they were cheaper. But you can’t. Because of the monopoly. If the government insists on giving utilities monopolies, then the government should be telling companies like NIPSCO and CenterPoint that if they can’t match the efficiency of Duke, they’re out. Sell the system to someone else. Sell it to a nonprofit that can run it better. Instead, the government enables the system. And if you think the IURC is going to do anything meaningful about it, you’re dreaming. It’s a board controlled by politicians, and those politicians are influenced by utility companies. Nothing meaningful is going to change. It’s dinner theater. It’s a glorified floor show.