Advocates Urge Residents to Testify After AES Files Rate Increase That Would Add About $21 a Month

Citizens Action Coalition policy advocate Kelly told a June HOPE Team meeting that AES Energy recently filed a base rate increase that, according to the company, would raise the average customer's bill by about $21 a month.

"AES, at the beginning of last week, filed a base rate increase," Kelly said. "According to them, it will raise the average customer's bill by about $21 a month." She urged residents to submit written comments and to attend public field hearings the utility regulator will schedule.

The meeting, convened by Kim Boyd, founder and president of the HOPE Team (Helping Others Prosper Economically), focused on how higher utility costs are affecting Marion County residents. Boyd and other attendees described large bills, disconnections and continuing concerns about utility billing problems that followed AES's transition to a new billing system in late 2023.

Why it matters: Local advocates said the filing comes on top of other increases and legislative changes that let utilities shift more costs to customers. Kelly said the company’s filing follows a string of utility requests across the state and legislative changes since 2013 that have, in her view, shifted costs from shareholders to ratepayers.

Kelly and other advocates also warned that customers face two separate cost pressures: the AES base-rate filing and another already-approved 6% increase scheduled for…