INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s Office of Utility Consumer Counselor is recommending that Duke Energy be denied its request for a 15% rate hike. That would work out to about $23 per month more for the average customer.

Bill Fine with the IUCC has recommended that the utility instead reduce its average charges by nearly $8 a month.

Duke Energy in July asked the state Utility Regulatory Commission to approve a rate increase that would boost its annual revenue by about $395 million.

The utility says the proposed increase is to accommodate customer growth, update a grid and transition to cleaner energy.

Consumer groups claim the company hasn’t been transparent about how it determined how much the proposed rate increase should be. Duke denies that claim.