Gov. Mike Braun’s recent appointments to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission send a clear signal about whose voices are being prioritized — and whose experiences are not.
All three new appointees are white men. That fact alone is not the core problem. The deeper concern is what those appointments represent: a regulatory body that increasingly looks like the executive suites and boardrooms of monopoly utilities rather than the communities bearing the brunt of soaring energy costs across Indiana.
At a moment when Hoosiers are struggling to keep the lights on, the people charged with regulating our utilities should understand firsthand what it means to choose between paying the electric bill and buying groceries, affording medication or keeping up on rent payments. These appointments suggest a troubling disconnect between state leadership and the lived reality of Indiana families.
Hoosiers are hurting right now, and Braun’s energy agenda is not helping.
In just the past year, electric bills have surged across the state at levels not seen in decades. Customers served by NIPSCO have seen electric bills rise by 27%. CenterPoint customers are paying 25% more. Duke Energy Indiana customers face increases of roughly 20%, and AES Indiana customers are staring down a 12% hike.
A report released in November estimated Hoosiers’ electric bills will go up by an average of 16.3%, costing an extra $260 a year. These are not marginal adjustments. They are household-shaking increases that arrive month after month, regardless of income or circumstance.
In 2025 alone, Braun’s utility regulators rubber-stamped some of the most severe electric rate hikes in the past 20 years. The average statewide investor-owned electric utility bill rose by approximately $28 per month in a single year, with many Hoosiers paying $50 more or more each month than they did just one year ago.
These increases did not happen by accident. They are the predictable result of a regulatory approach that has consistently prioritized utility spending and expansion over affordability.
Rather than embracing proven, lower-cost solutions that could reduce pressure on ratepayers, Braun has touted a “build-at-all-costs” energy agenda, doubling down on expensive coal and fossil fuel investments and promoting long-delayed nuclear projects that come with massive price tags and decades of financial risk. Those costs do not disappear. They get passed along to Hoosiers’ monthly bills.
Compounding the problem, the anti-consumer utility legislation Braun signed into law in 2025, all but guarantees higher bills in the future by weakening oversight and shifting more financial risk onto ratepayers. The message to Hoosiers is clear: You’re going to pay more now, and you can expect to pay even more later.
That’s why the governor’s choices for the IURC are perplexing at best. When regulators share more professional and cultural affinity with the industries they oversee than with the public they serve, the result is predictable: rubber-stamped rate hikes, limited scrutiny of utility spending and a regulatory process that feels inaccessible and unresponsive to everyday Hoosiers.
Indiana has no shortage of qualified women and people of color with deep expertise in energy, consumer protection, environmental justice and public policy. Many were part of the candidate pool. Choosing not to appoint them reflects a missed opportunity to strengthen the Commission with voices that understand energy affordability not as a theoretical concern, but as a lived experience.
Braun has said he wants to focus on affordability and economic opportunity. If that is truly the case, then energy regulation cannot remain business as usual. Appointing regulators who mirror the status quo — at a time when the status quo is failing Hoosiers — is not leadership. It is complacency.
While the governor cannot change these appointments now, he can chart a better course going forward, holding all commissioners accountable for rigorous oversight, meaningful public engagement and decisions that prioritize ratepayer protection over utility profits. It also requires listening — really listening — to the Hoosiers who show up at hearings, submit comments and speak out about bills they can no longer afford.
Hoosiers do not need more window dressing or procedural box-checking. We need energy regulators and a governor who are paying close attention to what is happening in people’s homes and wallets. The credibility of our regulatory system and the lives of Hoosiers depend on it.
Submitted by:
Denise Abdul-Rahman, CEO and Founder, Black Sun Light Sustainability
Sadie Harper-Scott, President, Indiana State Conference of the NAACP
Representative Earl Harris, Chairman, Indiana Black Legislative Caucus
Rev. Dr. David Greene, President, Concerned Clergy Indianapolis
Rev. Dr. Lionel Rush, President, Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance
Mark A. Russell, Director of Advocacy, Indianapolis Urban League
