Exclusive Report - U.S. lawmakers, including Senator Warren, urge energy regulators to reject the acquisition of AES by a power company

Laila Kearney/Sumit Saha

Reuters New York, September 29 - According to a letter obtained by Reuters, a group of U.S. lawmakers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, this week urged federal energy regulators to reject the deal in which power company AES would sell itself for over $33 billion (link) to a subsidiary of Blackstone and its investment partners, saying the deal could drive up electricity bills and benefit data centers at the expense of utility customers.

U.S. electricity demand is being pushed to historic highs, mainly due to the surge in energy-hungry data centers, triggering a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the power industry, some of which aim to privatize publicly traded utilities.

BlackRock's BLK.N Global Infrastructure Partners, together with EQT EQTAB.ST and other investors, reached a deal in March to acquire AES AES.N for about $33.4 billion including debt, making it one of the largest transactions in the power sector in recent years.

"At a time when American households are facing record-high utility bills, the entry of private equity firms into the public utility market has significant implications for consumers' energy costs," the letter dated September 28 to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairwoman Willie Phillips said.

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