Have you ever opened your electric bill and wondered why it doubled from last month?
Or tried to figure out how AES knows what to charge you?
Utility companies are complicated. Their bills can be the same way.
This Mirror Indy guide will walk you through how to understand your AES bill.
The basics
Your AES bill has three basic parts.
Base rate
This makes up most of your bill.
Think of it like one of those self-serve frozen yogurt places. The amount you pay is based on how much you put in the bowl.
When you see news about a utility company trying to raise rates, that’s usually referring to the base rate. Changing the base rate requires approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
Sales tax
This is the easiest part of your bill to understand. Whatever your total is, add 7% for sales tax.
Trackers
Trackers are smaller charges that make up a lower percentage of your bill than the base rate.
AES has seven trackers, which can change up to four times every year. Trackers are charges that companies use to recover some costs outside of the base rate. Example: AES customers are likely seeing more expensive bills this summer because of an increase to what’s known as the fuel adjustment charge.
But it isn’t easy to find how much trackers are costing you. AES doesn’t include an itemized breakdown on bills.
The invisible stuff
If you want to stay on top of exactly how and why your bill is changing, you’ll have to dig for it.
The easiest way to do that is to look at a yearly survey from the regulatory commission. You can see the 2026 survey here, and you can see past surveys here.
Surveys show how much each company charges based on how much energy is used. You’ll also find a list of trackers and their prices.
Keep in mind that each year’s survey is just a snapshot of what bills look like on July 1. If you’re the type of person who wants to stay in the know all year, you’ll have a little more work to do.
Welcome to the IURC case portal
The regulatory commission’s case portal is the most comprehensive resource for keeping track of pretty much anything a utility company is doing.
There are lots of fields you could fill out, but you can ignore most of them.
The two most helpful fields are “Cause Number” and “Utilities.”
Cause Number
Each tracker has its own cause number. You can see a full list here.
For example, if you want to see every time AES has submitted a fuel adjustment case, searching case number 38703 will bring up those cases in chronological order.
Utilities
If you want to see everything AES has submitted to the regulatory commission, you can search for the company. AES filings are listed under Indianapolis Power & Light Company.
What else do you want to know?
If you have more questions about what’s going on with your utility bills, reach out to Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick using the contact information below.
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Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers housing and labor. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick and Bluesky @tyfenwick.bsky.social.
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