Gov. Mike Braun has appointed Joby Jerrells to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, the agency responsible for ensuring that utilities deliver safe, reliable service at rates the state deems just and reasonable.
Jerrells comes to the commission from the Indiana Office of the Attorney General, where he serves as chief counsel of the Advisory Division. He also acts as the office’s agency ethics officer. Before joining the state, he spent more than a decade as an ethics counsel and senior attorney for the U.S. Army, and previously served as ethics counsel to the Office of the Vice President.
In announcing the appointment, Braun tied the selection to a central theme of his administration: holding down what Hoosiers pay for power.
“Hoosiers deserve reliable and affordable utilities, and have been overburdened by utility rate increases for too long,” Braun said. “Joby Jerrells brings decades of legal experience and a record of public service to the IURC, and he understands the commission’s responsibility to ensure Hoosiers have access to reliable energy at reasonable rates. I am confident he will keep affordability for Hoosiers where it should be: priority one.”
The IURC is the state’s utility rate-setting body, charged with reviewing and deciding requests from electric, gas, water, sewer and telecommunications utilities to change what they charge customers. Its commissioners are appointed by the governor and function much like judges, weighing evidence in contested cases and issuing decisions that carry the force of law. The commission has drawn heightened scrutiny in recent years as electric utilities across Indiana have filed a steady stream of rate increases, driven in part by rising demand and the cost of building new generation.
Jerrells’ legal résumé is heavy on advisory and ethics work rather than utility regulation. As chief counsel of the Advisory Division at the Attorney General’s office, he oversees the unit that provides legal guidance to state agencies. His prior ethics roles — at the Army and in the vice president’s office — suggest a career built around compliance and government conduct questions rather than the ratemaking and engineering disputes that dominate the commission’s docket.
A Bloomington native who now lives in Bedford, Jerrells is a product of Indiana University’s public institutions. He earned his bachelor’s degree from IU, a master’s in public affairs from the university’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and graduated with honors from the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
His appointment fills one of the five seats on the commission, which reviews cases with the assistance of a technical and administrative staff. Commissioners serve four-year terms.
The appointment lands as the commission continues to work through a backlog of pending rate cases and as affordability pressures remain a live political issue at the Statehouse. Braun campaigned on relief for utility customers, and the governor’s office framed the Jerrells pick as part of that broader push.
Jerrells is expected to join the commission’s current lineup as it takes up its next round of contested matters.
