Pryor blasts the sale of AES Corporation to private equity consortium

Today, March 2, the AES corporation announced that it will be acquired by a consortium of global investors for $33.4 billion. The consortium includes Global Infrastructure Partners, a part of BlackRock, and the EQT Infrastructure VI fund. According to the corporation, AES Indiana will remain locally managed and operated. 

State Rep. Cherrish Pryor (D-Indianapolis) released the following statement: 

“For years, AES customers have battled skyrocketing prices and declining service. The corporation has a de facto monopoly. AES has continued to put shareholders' profits above the needs of working families. Selling to private equity will only make it worse.

“Private equity firms are all about profit. We’ve seen what happens when these firms take over nursing homes and hospitals. They aggressively cut services, infrastructure investment and reduce staff, resulting in worse outcomes for the consumer. Keep in mind that they’re buying AES as part of the AI boom. BlackRock invests heavily in coal, data centers and now they are buying the energy grids. 

“AES conveniently made the announcement after the 2026 legislative session, which concluded on Friday, to dodge efforts by some legislators to push for laws that prohibit such a sale from going forward. 

“Last week, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) announced they would be meeting with the investor-owned utilities in Indiana as part of their investigative inquiry into high energy prices. I urge the IURC to conduct a thorough study into how the sale of AES to private equity will impact rates and service quality as part of their investigation. 

“Ever since Indianapolis Power and Light was sold out of public hands to AES in 2001, I have been staunchly against for-profit companies owning essential services like utilities in Indiana. Allowing local governments to take back control of utilities is the only way to bring costs down for Hoosiers. Instead, we have gone in the complete opposite direction and allowed private equity with even less stake in the community to seize control. With the monopolistic structure of our utilities in Indiana, I fear this is leaving the door wide open for my constituents to be exploited and set a dangerous precedent statewide.”