SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said Hoosiers dealing with high utility bills will see a shift in how rate increases are handled, following his appointment of three new members to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
Braun made the comments in a one-on-one video interview with WNDU 16 News Now ahead of the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
**Utility bills and rate oversight**
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Braun said he replaced three of the five commissioners on the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, with a focus on protecting current ratepayers — both residential and commercial.
He also pointed to the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, led by Abby Gray, whom he described as a reformer.
“From CenterPoint, NIPSCO, AES, AEP, Duke, they got to be careful going forward that there’s no burden put additionally on their rate payers,” Braun said.
On the question of data centers and their potential impact on electricity rates, Braun said the two must remain separate. He said investor-owned utilities should follow a model similar to what NIPSCO has done — creating a separate entity to serve data centers — and that companies such as Google, Amazon and Meta must pay for the electricity and generation they require.
“They put more electrons onto the grid to actually bring prices down,” Braun said. “That’s the way it’s going to work in Indiana.”
**Tariffs and small business relief**
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Braun addressed tariffs that have now been ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, saying relief for affected small businesses would likely need to come from the federal level.
“What can be done to help that element of small businesses probably would have to be done at the federal level,” Braun said. “We’ll look at ways to mitigate that as well.”
Braun said small businesses have not received enough attention regarding their economic well-being, and called it an issue he campaigned on.
**Chicago Bears stadium bill passes Indiana House**
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Indiana Senate Bill 27 [passed the Indiana House 95-4](https://www.wndu.com/2026/02/24/indiana-house-passes-bill-that-paves-way-potential-chicago-bears-stadium-hammond/) on Tuesday. The bill still requires additional steps before it reaches the governor’s desk.
The legislation, if signed by Braun, would establish a stadium authority in the Hammond area to support the potential relocation of the Chicago Bears to Indiana.
When asked to rate the likelihood of the Bears coming to Indiana on a scale of 1 to 10, Braun said 6.
“For three years the Bears have been trying to work with their own state and the city of Chicago and been getting kind of no attention to it,” Braun said. “We’ve been talking to them quietly for several months.”
Braun said due diligence would take approximately “a month and a half or two,” but he believes Indiana’s chances of getting the Bears are “better than 50-50.”
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