If you've ever tried to shop for a cheaper electricity plan in Indiana, you've probably given up because there's nothing to shop for. That's not a broken website — it's the system working as designed. Indiana is a regulated electricity state, and it has never opened its residential market to retail competition. Here's why there's no provider to choose, what your rate actually reflects, and what a homeowner can do instead of shopping around.
The straight answer
No, you cannot choose your electricity provider in Indiana. Whichever utility serves your address — AES Indiana (formerly Indianapolis Power & Light), Duke Energy Indiana, Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), NIPSCO, a municipal utility, or a rural electric membership cooperative (REMC) — is your only option. There is no Power to Choose-style marketplace, no list of competing suppliers, and no plan comparison to run, because Indiana does not allow retail electricity competition.
Unlike a handful of neighboring states, Indiana never ran a large-scale deregulation experiment that later got rolled back — it has stayed a traditionally regulated, vertically integrated utility market throughout. One company generates or procures the power, delivers it over its own wires, and bills you for both, and that whole arrangement is overseen by a single state regulator rather than left to a competitive market.
That's not automatically bad news. Regulated monopoly service means your utility can't lose you as a customer to a cheaper competitor, but it also means it can't raise your rate unilaterally — every rate change has to survive a public case in front of regulators. The trade is stability for choice. The rest of this guide is about what a homeowner can actually control inside that trade.
What power costs in Indiana
Indiana's average residential electricity rate was 16.2 cents per kWh in 2025, per EIA's preliminary data. That's up 116 percent since 2005, and the pace over just the last decade has run about 3.4 percent a year — not a spike, but a steady, compounding climb that has outrun inflation for two decades running. The chart below shows the full federal price history for Indiana, with a dashed projection of where the rate goes if the last decade's pace simply continues. Drag across it, or compare Indiana against another state.
Full Indiana electricity price data (1990–2025)
| Year | Indiana (¢/kWh) | US avg (¢/kWh) |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 6.9 | 7.8 |
| 1991 | 6.7 | 8.0 |
| 1992 | 6.9 | 8.2 |
| 1993 | 6.7 | 8.3 |
| 1994 | 6.8 | 8.4 |
| 1995 | 6.7 | 8.4 |
| 1996 | 6.8 | 8.4 |
| 1997 | 6.9 | 8.4 |
| 1998 | 7.0 | 8.3 |
| 1999 | 7.0 | 8.2 |
| 2000 | 6.9 | 8.2 |
| 2001 | 6.9 | 8.6 |
| 2002 | 6.9 | 8.4 |
| 2003 | 7.0 | 8.7 |
| 2004 | 7.3 | 9.0 |
| 2005 | 7.5 | 9.5 |
| 2006 | 8.2 | 10.4 |
| 2007 | 8.3 | 10.7 |
| 2008 | 8.9 | 11.3 |
| 2009 | 9.5 | 11.5 |
| 2010 | 9.6 | 11.5 |
| 2011 | 10.1 | 11.7 |
| 2012 | 10.5 | 11.9 |
| 2013 | 11.0 | 12.1 |
| 2014 | 11.5 | 12.5 |
| 2015 | 11.6 | 12.7 |
| 2016 | 11.8 | 12.6 |
| 2017 | 12.3 | 12.9 |
| 2018 | 12.3 | 12.9 |
| 2019 | 12.6 | 13.0 |
| 2020 | 12.8 | 13.2 |
| 2021 | 13.4 | 13.7 |
| 2022 | 14.6 | 15.0 |
| 2023 | 14.9 | 16.0 |
| 2024 | 14.8 | 16.5 |
| 2025 * | 16.2 | 17.3 |
Source: US EIA, average residential retail electricity price. Values in cents per kWh. * 2025 is preliminary.
Read that 116 percent honestly: it means Indiana's rate has more than doubled in twenty years, and it has climbed faster than many neighboring states over the same span. A household paying $150 a month in 2005 dollars, adjusted only for that rate increase, is paying roughly $324 today for the same usage — before accounting for the fact that home size and appliance load have likely pushed actual usage up too. That combination — a rate rising faster than the national pace and an in-between climate that runs both furnaces and air conditioners hard — is exactly why the "what can I control" section below matters more in Indiana than in a state with a flatter rate history.
Why your rate is set this way
In a regulated state, your rate isn't a market price — it's the output of a legal process called a rate case. Your utility periodically files a request with its regulator, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC), laying out its costs: fuel and purchased power, grid maintenance and upgrades, and a regulator-approved return on its infrastructure investment. The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, consumer advocates, large customers, and the public can all weigh in. Regulators then approve, trim, or reject the request, and the resulting rate applies to every residential customer in that utility's territory equally.
Two things drive the number up over time. First, fuel and purchased-power costs move with natural gas and coal prices and the broader energy market — Indiana's generation mix has historically leaned on coal more heavily than most states, and the ongoing shift toward natural gas and renewables brings its own transition costs into rate cases. Second, grid investment is real and ongoing: aging transmission and distribution infrastructure, substation upgrades, and storm hardening all get folded into future rate cases. None of this is something an individual homeowner can negotiate — the rate case is public, but it isn't personal.
How to actually lower the bill
Since you can't shop for a cheaper provider, everything that moves the needle in Indiana happens on your side of the meter or inside your rate plan's structure — not by switching companies.
Efficiency first. Heating and cooling are the dominant line items on almost every Indiana bill, given a climate that runs furnaces hard through winter and air conditioners hard through humid summers. A programmable or smart thermostat, a properly sized and maintained HVAC system, sealed and insulated ductwork, and attic insulation do more for an Indiana bill than anything else on this list. If your home is more than 15-20 years old, an energy audit through your utility is often the fastest way to find where the money is leaking out.
Rate structure, not rate shopping. Several Indiana utilities offer time-of-use rate plans alongside their standard flat rate, and interest is growing as EV ownership rises. A household that shifts laundry, dishwashing, and EV charging to off-peak overnight hours can often lower the bill on a time-of-use plan without using less energy overall, just using it at a cheaper time. Call your utility and ask what's available in your territory.
Budget billing for volatility. If the problem isn't the annual total but the swing between a mild-month bill and a January or July spike, ask your utility about budget or levelized billing. It averages your estimated annual cost into equal monthly payments with a periodic true-up, which doesn't lower your total cost but makes it predictable — useful for anyone on a fixed monthly budget.
Solar, weighed honestly. A rate that's climbed 116 percent since 2005 with no sign of flattening is exactly the condition that improves rooftop solar economics: every future rate increase is a cost you avoid on the portion of usage you generate yourself. Indiana gets less sun than the Southwest, so panel output per roof is more modest, and the payback period depends heavily on your specific utility's net metering or net billing compensation rules, which differ across AES Indiana, Duke Energy Indiana, I&M, and NIPSCO and have shifted in recent years. Work through the specifics in our solar panels guide before signing anything.
The practical checklist
- Confirm your utility and rate plan. Find your provider (AES Indiana, Duke Energy Indiana, I&M, NIPSCO, a municipal utility, or a REMC) and your current rate plan on your last bill — you can't compare options until you know your baseline.
- Ask about time-of-use plans. Request a usage-based comparison from your utility using your actual billing history, not a generic estimate.
- Fix the HVAC system first. Filter changes, duct sealing, and a smart thermostat typically outperform any rate-plan switch in dollar terms.
- Consider budget billing if your goal is a predictable monthly payment rather than a lower annual total.
- Check your home's broader electrical health. Our electrical guide covers panel capacity and wiring issues that can also affect efficiency and safety.
- Run the solar numbers against your actual utility's terms before committing — net metering rules vary by provider in Indiana and materially change the payback period.
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — Indiana average residential electricity rate (16.2 cents per kWh, 2025 preliminary) and the 1990-2025 historical price series shown in the chart.