BlackRock Buys AES Indiana, AES Ohio Power Company
BlackRock has officially bought our electric grid. A private owned company now owns all of our electric grid in Indiana and Ohio power company in the name of mass producing AI data centers. If you were not in Indiana and don’t know how hard we’ve been fighting AI data centers and our rising energy costs. Our bills went up about $400 just in the last two months. Now that’s expected to get even worse as BlackRock has just secured a $33 billion deal acquiring AES, which is the power company responsible for all of the electricity in Indiana and Ohio.
Indianapolis 13 News on Blackrock Deal with AES Power Company
Well, the company that provides electricity to your home or business here in Indianapolis now is changing ownership. BlackRock is buying AES Indiana power company and why consumer advocates fear customers will pay more for power..
Under the acquisition, AES Indiana will still be a regulated utility monopoly, but the power company would change from a publicly traded company to a privately held company. A consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners, a division of BlackRock, and EQT will acquire all of AES globally for $15 a share. That’s more than a 40% premium for shareholders.The total transaction is about 10.7 billion dollars. AES Indiana and AES Ohio power company will remain locally operated and manage regulated utilities.
Does Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission Have a Say?
The state gives the privilege of these monopoly franchises to these utilities in exchange, they expect them to be good community partners, good corporate partners. What is most frustrating about this is the state of Indiana and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission have no say in approving or rejecting this deal, and that’s simply not right. Citizens Action Coalition fears an increased push for profits will come at an unfair cost to rate payers.
Indiana Capitol Chronicle – AES Indiana’s parent company to go private in BlackRock-led $33B deal
Indiana Chronicle Article Link
