U.S. Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren and four House members urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to deny Global Infrastructure Partners’ proposed acquisition of AES Corporation. The lawmakers argued that the application does not demonstrate the transaction is consistent with the public interest and raised concerns that acquisition costs and private equity profit incentives could lead to higher electricity rates for AES customers in Ohio and Indiana. The letter asked FERC to assess the transaction in the context of BlackRock’s expanding interests in energy infrastructure. Global Infrastructure Partners is a BlackRock subsidiary, and the lawmakers said the combined group could hold interests in both AES utilities and regional data centers, whose electricity demand may require substantial grid investment. They also pointed to repeated rate increase requests by AES Ohio and AES Indiana and warned that the proposed ownership structure could intensify pressure on customer bills.
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs members urge FERC to reject Global Infrastructure Partners’ AES acquisition
U.S. Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren and four House members urged FERC to reject Global Infrastructure Partners’ proposed acquisition of AES Corporation. They warned that transaction costs, private equity incentives and BlackRock’s interests in both utilities and data centers could increase electricity rates for customers in Ohio and Indiana.