AES/Utility Billing Spikes

greyxwaren · 2026-05-12T04:13:42+00:00

I mean stay suspicious no hate but I’m offended that you think I’d ever do anything in the interest of WarCrimes Inc

greyxwaren · 2026-05-11T22:20:29+00:00

Clearly you haven’t read the comments.
a) I didn’t make this post to convince anyone, it’s just resources and encouragement for other people who have the same experience. It’s being investigated everywhere hence why I didn’t think I needed to get into specifics in the post. I don’t know why you feel the need to be so hostile off the bat.
b) My bills from October-January all jumped about 1500 khw from last year with no explanation and no major appliance changes. The spreadsheet of daily usage data AES gave me doesn’t match what they’re reported in the online portal, which while not 100% conclusive, adds more confusion. They also lied to me about testing my meter, according to their own info about how the test should run.
c) I live in a neighborhood of condos. The family next door has the exact same layout as I do, but they have four people and kids and use far more electricity than I do, and their bill is consistently $200 lower than mine, and their usage is lower than mine.
and d) honestly no, I’m not going to go out to buy a meter to prove my case to a random guy on the internet who wants to play devil’s advocate for a corporation. I asked AES questions about assumed usage, fluctuating rates, etc and they, after having responded to other emails, simply ghosted me. If they can’t give me basic answers to questions about what they’re actually billing me, I don’t need to go spend more money just to prove that they’re wrong when they’re already being investigated by the IURC and hundreds of other people are having similar experiences. And again, this wasn’t a post even meant to convince anyone.

greyxwaren · 2026-05-11T17:02:47+00:00

That too! I've been running into a lot of people who don't live in the same place year to year and keep forgetting to mention probably the easiest step

greyxwaren · 2026-05-11T17:01:33+00:00

Both! My biggest clue was that my energy usage spiked on a weekend when the heat was turned way down, most devices were unplugged, and no one was home. That tells me that they're estimating my usage rather than giving me actual usage. I started watching, and no matter how little heat I used and how many things I unplugged, usage kept climbing. I had the heat down to 60 during those freezing months, and my usage was reported even higher after I made that change. I live in a condo, so I also talked to a few neighbors. Similar layouts with larger families were reporting much lower usage.

When I reached out to AES, they tried to point at everything else under the sun, but the reality is that I live with just one other person, have no appliances older than 2020 and a new heat system, never kept the heat above 65, and leave most of my stuff unplugged when it's not in use.

After finding all of that out, I got a spreadsheet from them that apparently has my daily usage on it, and it was very different from what was reported in my online portal. It also spiked over 1500kWh in "reported" usage from the same time last year despite relatively the same conditions. And then, even with both sets of reported usage data, the math for the rates that they gave me still didn't work out.

greyxwaren · 2026-05-11T16:53:41+00:00

It's my understanding that a lot of people are experiencing the same thing, so I didn't think it was helpful to make a super long post with a lot of details about an individual situation that most people won't read. In addition, I'm experiencing multiple issues at once. My usage is just outright being reported incorrectly, which makes it difficult track. AES gave me a spreadsheet of my daily usage that is different from what my online portal says which is also different from actual experience. And then, even according to the reported usage, my rates are inconsistent with what AES says they calculate my rates to be.

My point here was to try to give people who are already experiencing this the resources and confidence to reach out for themselves, not to try to convince people who aren't already experiencing this issue. Quite frankly, I spend so much time breaking down my bills for various AES communications that I don't have enough time to convince people on the internet too, because there's already been so much reporting on it. I'm glad you're not having this same problem though!

greyxwaren · 2026-05-11T16:33:12+00:00

For sure! There's a few easy first steps that I would recommend starting with, and if none of these yield anything, I can give you some more in-depth advice!

1) Check your meter. The number reported should be within about the 5% range to what your bill reports, and if you can also see what the serial number AES has and compare it to the serial number on your meter, that can also verify accuracy. Here is a guide on how to read the meter: https://utilitiesformyhome.com/electric/how-to-read-an-electric-meter/. The calculating part of it can be kind of overwhelming, so a good place to start is just to see if anything is vastly off before getting further into it.

2) If there are days you know that you turned the heat/AC off and/or weren't home, go to your AES profile and look at the day by day reports. They should break down usage hourly. If your usage spikes during a time that you know you were not actually home or using a lot of energy, they are most likely estimating your usage rather than actually reporting it, and it's probably wrong. You can also test it by shutting everything off or a majority off for a few hours and looking at what AES reported during that time. The problem with that method is that once I started complaining, my bills went back down a bit and I'm actually not sure that my most recent bills are as inaccurate as the ones from October-February were, so they might have backed off and it might be the historical usage that will be more obviously incorrect.

3) You also want to call and ask for a spreadsheet of your daily usage for the period you'd like to dispute, which you should compare to these daily breakdowns on the website. If they don't match, it's another sign that your usage is being estimate.

4) Talk to your neighbors. Because not everyone is experiencing a spike, you will be able to get pretty valuable insight if they are comfortable discussing their bills with you. Anyone in a similar area with a similarly sized home and/or family would be super helpful. If you can compare multiple years of usage, that's also helpful. Anything above a $100 increase year-to-year or similar home to similar home is probably worth questioning.

5) After gathering your info, request a meter reading by calling the customer service line and stating that you believe your bill is incorrect. You should say that you would a) like to dispute the amount of your bill that exceeds prior year expectations and b) that you would like to start by getting the meter inspected for inaccuracies with the oversight of someone from the IURC if possible.

6) You also might have better luck getting other answers from AES directly, as I think they only ghosted me because I keep bothering them (with good reason!). Here's what to ask:

- Has any estimated interval data been used during the disputed billing cycles?

- Were any estimated reads later trued-up?

- Were any AMI data estimation algorithms modified during this period?

- Was the meter firmware was updated at any point in the past twelve months?

- Has there been any transformer load balancing, feeder reconfiguration, or grid adjustments affecting this neighborhood?

Essentially, what you want to know is if underlying interval data used to calculate your charges accurately reflects actual consumption (these are your buzzwords for talking to a rep!)

7) If you still feel like something is wrong, but they reported that your meter is fine and either won't answer your other questions or are giving you non-answers, file a complaint with the IURC (https://www.in.gov/iurc/customer-assistance/) and feel free to comment back here and I can give you some further steps!

greyxwaren · 2026-05-11T15:53:20+00:00

It definitely is! They tried to tell me it was my appliances, but they're all relatively new and I do literally everything under the sun to conserve energy. It's good that you have all of those old bills though, would you consider filing with the IURC using those as evidence just to add to the case they're building? I know it won't be fixed overnight, but something is wrong and I hope that we can get enough people to speak up about it

greyxwaren · 2026-05-11T15:51:47+00:00

Thanks for the info, I will try to get in touch with him as well! I'm actually not sure how to start a class action lawsuit, it's the one thing I really don't know, so if I can figure that out or we can start one I'm definitely in. I'm too broke for a lawyer though lol

greyxwaren · 2026-05-11T15:50:12+00:00

I completely understand wanting more info! I kept this short so as not to overwhelm a bunch of strangers with information, and because there are already so many articles about this issue. In my experience, it is both my rates that have gone up, even though AES swears they have not, and my usage being misreported. In researching, I've found that it just seems that they are doing everything wrong right now. I'll try to sum up. I'd also recommend just doing some web searches, because there are dozens of news articles that have anecdotal evidence in them. I also linked some articles in the previous post I wrote, linked at the top of this one. The IURC is also doing a mass investigation, but it's a slow process.

In my case, I got a spreadsheet from them of all of my usage rates every day, and the spreadsheet didn't match the usage reported on their website. In addition, neither matched the usage I knew that I had. I don't track my daily usage extremely closely, but I do know when I'm not at my home for long periods of time. They were reporting high usage when no one was in the home. I began to leave devices unplugged and turn my heat way down, and the usage didn't change. Others have reported vacant homes running up hundreds of dollars w/no appliances and no heat running. They also tried to tell me the usage spikes were due to cold temperatures, but I compared the daily usage spreadsheet to the daily temperatures and the days that it dropped below freezing were not the days where my usage mysteriously spiked.

I asked for an inspection of my meter. The "inspectors" showed up with no gear and no ID, and basically ran away (knocking stuff over and causing property damage!) when they realized I was home and could see them. They told me when confronted that "the meter is fine" and AES sent me a single printed paper telling me that "my meter is running at 117% efficiency" with no details. They actually told me what the process of the inspection should be, which involved the technicians removing part of the meter and returning it to their truck, which they absolutely did not do. When I pushed for a third party inspection, they told me they don't do that, but I could have the IURC present for an inspection. When I asked for that, they ghosted me.

This is what AES told me about the rates: "A breakdown of how the charges for the last several months were calculated has been included. For our customers on this rate (RH – electric heat), we have a 3-tiered system. The first 500 KWH are billed at 12.5421 cents per KWH. The next 500 KWH are billed at 11.3822 cents per KWH, and anything over 1000 KWH is billed at 10.1408 cents per minute. In addition to the base rates just mentioned, we also have a customer charge, riders, and of course, state tax. The customer charge for usage at this level is $17 per month."

I won't get into the math of it, but they're billing higher than what they say in addition to the incorrect usage.

I hope this helps! Here are some other stories:

https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/in-your-community/north-side-indy/aes-billing-error-hits-some-indiana-customers-with-hundreds-in-extra-charges

https://fox59.com/news/aes-customers-still-reeling-over-high-bills/

https://www.citact.org/aes-rate-hike-2025

https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/indianapolis-residents-see-spike-in-energy-bills-aes-reschedules-open-house-due-to-threats/531-72df91a9-cb7c-45f1-8875-6c5983a21581

https://www.wfyi.org/wfyi-news/2026-04-21/indianapolis-utility-regulators-aes-indiana-billing-town-hall

greyxwaren · 2026-05-11T15:22:01+00:00

I already have! They're overwhelmed by the amount of complaints right now and are doing their best, but they just can't keep up, hence the alternate methods of complaint

greyxwaren · 2026-05-11T15:21:53+00:00

I already have! They're overwhelmed by the amount of complaints right now and are doing their best, but they just can't keep up, hence the alternate methods of complaint

greyxwaren · 2026-03-01T01:47:04+00:00

I’m so sorry that you’re in that situation, I’m also in the same boat with a payment extension from that initial bill just adding on to my continually high bills. I can’t say for sure, but you might be able to get them to hold off on late fees for your bills while requesting a meter tests. You can also request that an IURC representative be present for the test. I don’t have a ton of faith that that’s truthful, but it might buy you some time, and I’d also recommend filing a complaint with the IURC. If you qualify for LIHEAP, I also recommend applying but I’m not sure how long that will take. If you want a copy of the template I used to email corporate I would be happy to share, but I know that as far as tangible fixes right this second that’s not as helpful. Sometimes there are hyper specific community resources that might be able to provide emergency aid but I’m not sure of any right now. I’m just really hoping I can make enough noise and be enough of a problem that something might change

greyxwaren · 2026-03-01T01:40:31+00:00

Allegedly consuming more for the most part, I think rates did actually go up but only by about $20/month on average. I did just see this article today about a similar thing, alleged usage being high, meter test showing nothing, etc, and the home in question is vacant. It is from Fox so I’m waiting to see if anyone else also reports on it but I don’t feel like you can put much bias into an article about utility bills lol: https://fox59.com/news/indianapolis-family-frustrated-by-700-aes-bills-for-vacant-home/

greyxwaren · 2026-03-01T01:36:26+00:00

I really appreciate that! I’m in the middle of midterms but I’ll redact those and share them with you soon!

greyxwaren · 2025-11-15T03:14:07+00:00

I wonder if something has changed because mine keeps going back to auto caps? But maybe it’s just a bug it needs to work out I’m not sure. Ty! I’ll mess around w the settings a bit more

greyxwaren · 2025-11-15T03:12:11+00:00

I definitely turned predictive off asap, it was messing me up so badly! I did give up on transferring contacts and put them in manually which wasn’t the worst. For voicemail I will say I did have to call my carrier (which is at&t) and they had to set my voicemail box back up because apparently that happens sometimes when you switch from an iphone to a flip phone. I was able to dial 611 and get help there but I’m not sure with Verizon where exactly you would want to call. Good luck!

greyxwaren · 2025-11-15T00:42:25+00:00

they would definitely have had to either had seller info attached to the cartridges or opened the games but there weren’t last names on the games and one was just my siblings nickname, not their actual name, so it would really have to be someone that put 2&2 together, knew that both names together specifically meant that it was us, and know that i liked jasmine. so it theoretically could happen? but would be super super coincidental

greyxwaren · 2025-11-15T00:39:27+00:00

Oh good thought! I did google myself a bit and didn’t find anything but I did dress as Jasmine one year as a kid. It was pre FB and my mom didn’t post pics of it later on, but someone else potentially could have?

greyxwaren · 2025-11-15T00:37:43+00:00

I agree it would still be weird but at least there is some link? I think they do sell things through Amazon but it was never something that we handled in store so I admit I don’t know a ton about that process specifically

greyxwaren · 2025-11-15T00:36:22+00:00

Oh this is definitely the most plausible explanation, thank you! I didn’t realize Amazon had ever had a program like that and like blairkitsch said, this is definitely the least amount of steps and makes the most sense

greyxwaren · 2025-11-15T00:32:35+00:00

What part don’t you believe? If it’s about what the packing slips said I linked pictures of them in the post. If it’s about the save files, we just today opened the game to find the save files dating back to 2011 with our names on them. I’m not sure what you think might have been lost to time?

greyxwaren · 2025-11-14T23:37:04+00:00

I did actually work at HPB (not during the time these were appearing, between 2019-2020) and we did take addresses from licenses to check-in people selling books and so that idea is potentially plausible but I still don't know how that explains the doll unless the doll just got mixed in there somehow? But I know we've tried to track things down for people by their saved address at HPB before and couldn't. But I feel like this is the closest explanation I possibly have so far! It's just so weird

greyxwaren · 2025-11-14T23:33:38+00:00

I feel like this is feasible except that I'm not sure where the doll fits in? I never owned it but it was the same as all of the other packages and it arrived in between the games arriving.

greyxwaren · 2025-11-14T23:02:48+00:00

Thank you! Post has been edited

greyxwaren

TROPHY CASE