The state body that regulates utility companies is launching two new investigations into energy affordability. The announcement comes as it released results of an earlier investigation into Indiana’s five investor-owned electric utility companies.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s newly-appointed Chairman Anthony Swinger said Wednesday that he hopes to complete the two new investigations by the end of the year.
“The first two action items our investigations will be conducting [are] into return on equity and on the trackers that are used by electric utilities,” Swinger told reporters in a press conference.
“The return on equity has to do with the profit level … the return that a utility is allowed on the investment that it makes for capital projects,” he added. “The long and short of it is, we’re talking about the profit part of the bill.”
Trackers are billing components that account for fluctuations in utility companies costs and expenses — such as for fuel or transmission, distribution and storage costs — between base rate cases, which can take several years before they are decided.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission launched the original investigation into energy affordability and bill transparency in late February after it received a record number of complaints from residential customers and state lawmakers raised concerns over residents’ bills.
The investigation was composed of a public hearing where the body’s five appointed commissioners — and the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, which advocates for ratepayers — asked the five utility companies after they gave presentations. After that, it heard from customers at 10 listening sessions in cities across the state.
During the course of the investigation, the IURC said over 700 people attended at least one of the listening sessions, and it received 2,170 written comments from people across the state.
The short report includes 16 recommendations for different parties, including the commission itself, utility companies, the Indiana Office of Energy Development and the General Assembly.
The recommendations
For the commission itself:
- Launch the two investigations into companies’ return on equity and trackers
- Develop recommending performance incentive mechanisms, which act as penalties or rewards for utilities
- Update additional guidance on Transmission, Distribution, and Storage System Improvement Charge implementation standards
For utility companies:
- Double customer assistance programs through shareholder dollars
- Evaluate the efficiency of energy assistance programs for low-income customers
- Improve customer care, including accurate and timely communication
- Communicate ratepayer relief programs
For the Indiana Office of Energy Development:
- Evaluate the office’s affordability and energy efficiency programs
- Ex[and the use of the Indiana Energy Saver Program
- Build the office’s capacity to respond to an increasing demand for energy by the public and businesses
- Secure federal funding to improve energy infrastructure
For the Indiana General Assembly:
- End the 7% state sales tax on utility bills
- Expand IURC oversight of utility ownership to include mergers or acquisitions of holding and parent companies
- Require electric utilities to participate in regional transmission organizations, which the IURC says will lower costs for customers
Reactions to the investigation’s findings
Gov. Mike Braun is using his office as a bully pulpit to speak out on energy affordability, including utilities. Just last month, he condemned the IURC’s decision to approve a rate increase for Central Indiana electric provider AES Indiana and demoted then-Chairman Andy Zay, who had presided over most of the commission’s investigation.
“Affordability for Hoosiers is my top priority, and my appointees on the IURC have been tasked with making decisions that are fair for Hoosier families,” Braun said in a statement after the commission released its report. Today’s announced action steps are a great step to making energy bills more affordable. Hoosier families work hard to make every dollar count, and utility companies must start doing the same.”
Earlier this year, Braun signed a wide-ranging law overhauling the way the IURC approves rate changes for utility companies, creates new performance tracking metrics tied to those rate changes, and emphasizes programs for low-income residential customers. The law — House Enrolled Act 1002 — passed in the General Assembly with near-unanimous support, although Republicans rejected 12 amendments proposed by Democrats.
Some Democratic lawmakers remain critical of how the Republican supermajority legislates utility issues.
State Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) said his party had proposed legislation for years, including an amendment to end the utility sales tax earlier this year. Pierce is the ranking member of the House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee, which heard the overhaul bill during the 2026 legislative session.
“At the end of the day, for the the last decade, the Republicans in the General Assembly have been establishing utility regulation policy, and every single opportunity, they have sided with the utilities over the ratepayer, and so we see this over and over again, and it’s reflected in this report,” Pierce said. “It’s great that the utility commission is working on this stuff and investigating these things,” he added, but “the General Assembly is going to have to change its policies of the last decade and begin to legislate in favor of ratepayers, not utilities.”
State Rep. Alex Burton (D-Evansville) said he was encouraged to see some of his own previous legislative proposals included in the report’s recommendations.
“Hoosier households cannot wait for another legislative session holding our breath and keep our fingers crossed for potential actions. There needs to be swift, yet responsible actions that directly relieve wallets and pocketbooks now. The Braun administration says that it wants to lower utility costs. It’s time for the rubber to meet the road,” Burtons said.
Citizens Action Coalition, a consumer advocacy group, said they “applaud” the IURC’s deep dive into affordability. The group noted it’s been critical of billing trackers for years..
“There’s no question that the returns on equity of the Indiana utilities are unjustly high and disproportionate to the risk that investors face. Profit should be the reward for risk—it’s the ratepayers assuming the risk thanks to the tracking mechanisms authorized by the Indiana General Assembly,” it read in part.
Swinger, the commission chair, said he hopes the commission’s two new investigations will conclude by the end of the year and could go forward in “a matter of months.”
Contact WFYI data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org.
