AES Indiana (Indianapolis Power & Light) — deep review (Indianapolis, Marion County, IN)
TL;DR
- AES Indiana — the operating brand for Indianapolis Power & Light, owned by AES Corporation — serves about 510,000 customers across Marion County and parts of seven surrounding counties.
- The IURC approved a $71 million electric rate increase in Cause 45911-IPL/AES Indiana (Phase II 2023), and AES Indiana’s reliability metrics during the August 2020 derecho and June 2023 derecho generated significant outage-related complaints.
- On the positive side, AES has retired most of its coal generation (Petersburg conversions complete) and added the Petersburg Energy Center solar project — a meaningful clean-energy transition.
1. What they do
AES Indiana is a regulated electric utility serving Indianapolis and surrounding Marion-county area. Generation mix is shifting rapidly from coal to gas, solar, and storage. Major facilities: Petersburg (gas + solar conversion), Eagle Valley (gas), Harding Street (gas).
2. What customers actually report
- Outage frequency in dense urban core — some Indianapolis neighborhoods experience higher outage rates than the service-area average; AES has acknowledged this in its IURC filings and committed to grid-modernization spending.
- Rate-case complaints — the 2023 rate case (Cause 45911-IPL) attracted public-comment opposition.
- Petersburg coal-ash — IDEM consent decrees and EPA CCR rule compliance underway; ratepayer cost recovery has been contested.
- Customer service responsiveness: AES Indiana has expanded online self-service and outage-tracking; BBB complaint volume has been moderate and trending down.
3. What the data shows
- AES Corp 10-K (2024): consolidated revenue ~$13B; AES Indiana segment is one of multiple U.S. utility holdings.
- IURC Cause 45911-IPL (2023): $71M increase authorized.
- SAIDI/SAIFI reliability: reported in annual IURC filings; mid-pack for Midwestern urban utilities.
- Solar build-out: Petersburg Energy Center (~250 MW solar) and Hardy Hills Solar bring AES Indiana’s renewable portfolio above industry average.
4. How they handle complaints
AES Indiana operates a published consumer-affairs process, with escalation to the IURC. Outage-credit and food-spoilage policies are narrowly defined and have generated complaints during major storm events. Bill-payment-assistance programs (Power of Change, LIHEAP coordination) are publicly documented.
5. IBE Score: 5/10 — reasoning
Decent customer-service responsiveness and a credible clean-energy transition; offset by urban-grid reliability issues and rate-case increases. 5/10 reflects a utility with visible improvement trajectory but unfinished work on reliability.
6. Verified public sources
- IURC Cause No. 45911-IPL (AES Indiana rate case 2023)
- AES Corporation 2024 Annual Report (10-K)
- AES Indiana 2023 Integrated Resource Plan
- OUCC AES Indiana filings
- BBB profile — AES Indiana
7. What this review is, and what it isn’t
- Independent. No payment, sponsorship, or advertising relationship between IBE and the reviewed business.
- Public-record only. Every claim above traces to a source listed in section 6. Where data couldn’t be verified, the review either omits the claim or labels it as a pattern reported by customers (not a finding).
- Not legal or medical advice. If a specific transaction went wrong, document it in writing, escalate to the company first, then to the relevant regulator (Indiana AG, IDOI, IURC, CFPB, FDA, NHTSA, etc.) as appropriate.
- Updated as evidence comes in. If you have a primary-source document that changes any claim above — a court filing, a regulatory order, a settlement agreement — submit it via the tip form. Reviews are revised when verifiable evidence warrants.
This review reflects publicly available information as of the review date listed above. IBE has no commercial relationship with AES Indiana (Indianapolis Power Light) or its parent entities.