As 2025 comes to a close, all of us at Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) want to say thank you to our customers for letting us power your lives. We know electricity isn't just a product we provide - it's the foundation of your everyday lives. You trust us with something essential - to keep power flowing to your homes, businesses and families. That's a responsibility we never take lightly. For us, this isn't just a job - it's personal. We live in the same communities we serve. We're your friends, neighbors and loved ones. And we are proud to be your electric company.

This year brought growth across our region - new industries, new opportunities, and new challenges. We know that with growth comes questions about what it means for your electric bill. Many of you have also shared your concerns about balancing rising costs with reliable service. We hear you. That's why we've worked even harder to improve the grid and increase reliability while also taking steps to shield you from increased rates.

As we reflect on 2025, we're proud of the steps we've taken to serve you better. From strengthening the components of the grid and adding smarter technology to introducing a special rate that supports growth from large energy users like data centers - while protecting existing customers - every improvement was made with one goal in mind: providing safe, reliable power at an affordable rate.

We're working to perfect the basics: reducing the number of outages, and when outages do occur, restoring power as quickly as possible. When you see I&M crews replacing power poles, installing new equipment, hanging new wires or engaging with our business partners to trim trees near power lines, it reflects our company's efforts to ensure reliable power and strengthen the electric grid.

So how did we do in 2025? Our team has worked hard to make sure our customers are benefitting from being served by I&M. We have consistently improved to become an industry leader in terms of keeping the power on for our customers.

Here’s what that means for our customers:

Fewer Outages: Since 2019, outages are down nearly 50% by using data to target the areas of our grid that need the most attention, so we get the most “customer bang for the buck” when upgrading equipment to prevent outages.

Faster Restoration: When outages happen, restoration times are 55% faster due to more efficient processes and smart technology that will automatically reroute and restore power in minutes.

Less Tree-Related Outages: One of the leading causes of outages — trees and branches falling on lines — have dropped nearly 20% over the past four years.

Industry Leading Reliability: These results have made I&M an industry leader in reliability with our customers experiencing fewer and shorter outages than many other utilities across the country.

Serving our customers with reliable power that's on 24/7 is just one part of our focus on delivering value to our customers. Another is making sure growth in our region benefits customers - without raising your rates. Some of the leading technology companies in the world have chosen to or are exploring locating in I&M's footprint. It is an exciting time for our region, and we're committed to doing our part to support these customers and the economic growth they bring to our communities, while making sure our existing customers see the benefits from this growth as well.

We know there’s a lot of conflicting information out there about data centers and other large users with one of the most common questions being — are these large loads going to increase rates?

The short answer is no, data centers are not directly causing rates at I&M to go up. Rates are influenced by multiple factors — fuel prices, taxes, inflation, regulatory changes, etc. — and adding large customers or any customer growth in energy sales actually helps spread the cost of the grid, offsetting steeper increases than would have occurred otherwise. In Indiana we established additional customer protections through our Large Load Tariff, one of the first of its kind in the country. This serves as a roadmap to large customers wanting to locate to I&M's service territory with a standard set of terms and conditions they have to follow. These terms were unanimously agreed to by consumer advocates as well as groups representing data centers and large customers.

The tariff guarantees that:

• Large users pay for 100% of the energy they use; if they do not use all of the energy they request, they are required to pay a minimum of 80% of the service they request, regardless of whether it is used. Even at 80%, the additional revenues paid by the large user is more than enough to offset rate increases for our existing customers.
• Large users make long-term commitments so we can plan and invest wisely.
• If a large customer reduces or stops service unexpectedly, exit fee and collateral safeguards are in place so other customers aren’t left covering the costs.

This past October I&M filed a similar tariff with the Michigan Public Service Commission, in anticipation of large users locating within I&M’s service territory in that state.

In addition to improving reliability and supporting growth, I&M also found opportunities to support the communities we call home. Whether it took the form of participating in Habitat for Humanity builds, “raking a difference” by performing lawncare maintenance, or serving meals at the Rescue Mission, I&M employees volunteered for a number of organizations and served with a generosity of time and talent throughout each of our four districts.

Increased reliability. Shorter outages. Protecting our customers from assuming the financial burdens of large user projects. Serving our communities.

At I&M, our employees go to work every day with the mindset of delivering such great service that if customers were able to choose their electric provider, you would choose us.

From all of us at I&M, thank you for being our customers. It is an honor to be your electric provider and power the large and small moments of your everyday life.

We wish you a happy and safe 2026.