The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has approved the sale of Dayton-based AES Ohio.
Regulators said in a statement that AES Ohio, which is the local electric utility service, "will not change any rates, terms and conditions of service, employees, management practices or operations because of the merger."
After the sale, AES Ohio's headquarters will remain in Dayton.
AES Ohio will be jointly owned by Blackrock-owned Global Instructure Partners, EQT AB, Qatar Investment Authority, and California Public Employees’ Retirement System. Astrid Holdings will retain its current 30% share of AES Ohio.
The group of private equity firms have agreed to acquire the AES Corp. for $33.4 billion. That includes its utility companies AES Ohio and AES Indiana.
The acquisition will change AES from a publicly traded company to a privately held company. AES Ohio serves 527,000 customers in western Ohio.
This comes at a time when data center proposals are cropping up across the Miami Valley, including AES Ohio’s utility territory, increasing the need for power reliability to meet intensifying energy demands.
PUCO stated that "to facilitate sound decision-making regarding issues related to data centers" the commission ordered the company's board of directors members with interests in data centers to recuse themselves from issues related to data centers.
