As power bills keep climbing, Senators ask BlackRock and Blackstone for answers

U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Bernie Sanders (D-VT), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote concerned letters to BlackRock and Blackstone earlier this month. Citing ongoing issues with increasing electricity costs for Americans and private equity’s growing stake in the energy sector, the Senators addressed BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman specifically, listing several questions for each of the executives. Answers from the firms to the members of Congress were requested by December 18, 2025.

Questions for BlackRock: 

1. How does BlackRock, through its subsidiary, GIP, plan on retaining its role as solely an investor in the utility companies it purchases and refrain from exerting operational or managerial control of their day-to-day operations?
   1. What corporate governance structure and controls will BlackRock employ to ensure that the utility companies it currently owns and any future utility acquisitions maintain operational independence?
   2. To what extent will BlackRock influence the financial decisions of the utility companies in its portfolio, including, but not limited to, influencing the companies’ debt ratios, rate increases, target rate of returns, etc.?
   3. As part of the settlement that allowed for BlackRock’s acquisition of Allete, Minnesota Power and BlackRock agreed to safeguard the independence of Allete’s board, freeze rates for one year, and lower their projected rate of return to further suppress rates through 2030, among other provisions. How does BlackRock intend to ensure that electricity costs remain affordable after the rate freeze expires and beyond 2030?
   4. Does BlackRock plan to reduce the workforce of the utility companies it has acquired and plan to acquire in the future?
2. With BlackRock’s recent spate of acquisitions in the utility sector, how will BlackRock ensure that these mergers will not result in a cross-subsidy that benefits the non-utility companies in its portfolio?

Questions for Blackstone:

1. If Blackstone’s acquisition of PNM and TNMP is successful, does Blackstone plan to hike electricity prices for customers of PNM and TNMP following the acquisition?
2. If not, how does Blackstone intend to ensure that costs don’t increase as a result of the acquisition?
3. Does Blackstone plan to reduce the workforce at PNM and TNMP in order to meet investor targets?
4. Has Blackstone conducted any analyses to determine its anticipated rate of return at PNM and TNMP?
5. Does Blackstone plan on becoming an active investor and exerting significant control in the day-to-day operations of the utility and energy companies it acquires? If not, what corporate governance structure will Blackstone employ to ensure that utilities companies it currently owns and any future acquired utility companies maintain operational Independence?
6. To what extent will Blackstone influence the financial decisions of the utility companies in its portfolio, including, but not limited to, influencing the companies’ debt ratios, rate increases, target rate of returns, etc.?
7. With Blackstone’s recent spate of acquisitions in the utility sector, how does Blackstone intend on ensuring that these mergers will not result in a cross-subsidy that benefits the non-utility companies in its portfolio?

These questions are being raised at a critical moment in the energy sector. As noted by the Senators, AI and spiking power demand forecasts are putting a strain on the nation’s power grid and “private equity firms appear to be taking advantage of utilities’ regulated-monopoly status to rake in excess profits.” Private equity firms are investing in both the data center and power generation side of the AI supply chain, raising questions at the state and federal level about what impact this will have on consumers and their monthly power bills. 

A new research brief from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP), From Power Plants to Processors: Private Equity’s Big Bet on the Data Center Pipeline, warns that private equity firms are taking control of energy utilities and critical infrastructure to fuel the digital sector boom—artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers—despite uncertain demand forecasts and mounting community opposition.

Firms like BlackRock and Blackstone have invested nearly $200 billion in data center–related deals since 2022, driving a wave of acquisitions across gas-fired power plants, fossil fuel assets, and even retail energy utilities that millions of customers depend on.

PESP applauds Senators Warren, Sanders, and Blumenthal for their leadership on this consumer issue and look forward to reading the answer from BlackRock and Blackstone.