What interviewers actually evaluate

AES Corporation finance interviews test whether candidates understand how modeling the economics of a global power generation and utility company differs from corporate finance at a general industrial or energy company – where regulated utility finance at AES Indiana and AES Ohio requires cost-of-service ratemaking models that determine the allowed revenue requirement and rate base for PUC-approved rate cases, where non-recourse project finance structures fund renewable energy developments through tax equity partnerships and debt financing that is repaid from project cash flows rather than from AES's corporate balance sheet, and where the Inflation Reduction Act's production tax credits and investment tax credits create a tax equity market that determines the economics of AES Clean Energy's wind and solar development pipeline. Finance at AES spans regulated utility rate case modeling (where the finance team develops the cost of service studies that support rate case filings before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, calculating the allowed rate of return on rate base, the revenue requirement that justifies proposed rate increases, and the depreciation schedules for generation and distribution assets that feed into the regulatory cost recovery framework), non-recourse project finance for renewable energy development (where AES Clean Energy's wind, solar, and battery storage projects are financed through project-level debt and tax equity structures where tax equity investors receive the ITC or PTC from the project in exchange for their capital contribution, and where the project finance model must demonstrate that project revenues from power purchase agreements will service project debt with adequate coverage ratios throughout the debt term), FX exposure and international operations financial management (where AES's operations in Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Jordan, and other international markets create significant foreign currency translation exposure that affects consolidated earnings and requires hedging program management for currencies including the Brazilian real and Chilean peso), and coal plant retirement financial modeling (where the accelerated depreciation of AES's remaining coal generation assets and the potential for regulatory approved stranded cost recovery through rate base treatment creates a financial planning challenge around the timing and financial structure of coal retirements that affects both rate case filings and consolidated earnings).

Start your free AES Finance practice session.

What interviewers actually evaluate

Regulated Utility Rate Case Modeling, Project Finance for Renewables, and IRA Tax Credit Economics

AES finance interviews probe whether candidates understand how power sector finance differs from general corporate finance in the rate case regulatory accounting (regulated utility allowed revenue is determined by a regulatory formula involving rate base, allowed ROE, cost of debt, and income taxes rather than by market pricing – and finance candidates who cannot explain the cost of service ratemaking framework and how rate base additions create future allowed revenue cannot support the utility finance function that determines AES Indiana's and AES Ohio's financial performance), the tax equity project finance structure (the ITC and PTC available under the Inflation Reduction Act have created a large market for tax equity financing where tax-advantaged investors contribute capital to renewable projects in exchange for the tax credits and depreciation benefits that the projects generate, and finance candidates who describe renewable project finance as standard debt and equity without understanding tax equity structures will not be credible in AES Clean Energy's finance function), and the multi-country currency and political risk management (AES's international operations in Latin America and the Middle East generate consolidated earnings that are subject to currency translation fluctuations, and the finance team must model and manage this exposure through hedging, natural currency matching, and intercompany financing structures that reduce the volatility of reported earnings from international markets).

The Inflation Reduction Act's domestic content requirements and energy community bonus credits create additional financial modeling complexity for AES Clean Energy project economics that finance professionals must understand to model project IRRs accurately.

What gets scored in every session

Specific, sentence-level feedback.

Dimension	What it measures	How to answer
Regulated utility rate case financial modeling	Do you understand how to build the financial model that supports AES Indiana's rate case filing before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission – how to calculate the rate base from net plant in service, working capital, and regulatory assets, what the allowed rate of return calculation involves using the weighted average of allowed ROE and cost of debt capital, how to develop the revenue requirement that translates allowed return on rate base plus operating expenses plus taxes into the rate increase amount that AES will request, and how to develop the sensitivity analysis that shows how different ROE and rate base assumptions affect the requested rate increase? We flag finance answers that describe utility rate case modeling as revenue forecasting without engaging with the cost of service ratemaking framework and regulatory accounting that determines the allowed revenue requirement AES can request in a rate case proceeding.	Rate base calculation from net plant and regulatory assets, WACC-based allowed return on rate base, revenue requirement calculation translating allowed return to rate increase request
Non-recourse renewable project finance and tax equity modeling	Can you describe how to structure the project finance model for an AES Clean Energy utility-scale solar project – how to model the project-level revenue from the power purchase agreement, operating costs including O&M and land lease, and debt service from project-level debt, what the tax equity structure looks like for an ITC project where a tax equity investor contributes capital in exchange for receiving the investment tax credit and accelerated depreciation, and how to calculate the project IRR from AES's perspective as the project sponsor after accounting for the tax equity investor's return and the debt service that project cash flows must support? We score whether your renewable project finance approach engages with the tax equity structure and debt service coverage modeling that distinguish project finance from corporate finance for renewable energy developments.	PPA revenue and O&M cost modeling for solar project, ITC tax equity structure and investor return modeling, project sponsor IRR calculation after tax equity and debt service
IRA tax credit economics and domestic content bonus modeling	Do you understand how to incorporate the Inflation Reduction Act's production tax credits and investment tax credits into AES Clean Energy's project economics – how the base ITC and PTC rates compare to the bonus credits available for projects meeting prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements, qualifying as domestic content projects, or siting in designated energy communities, and how to develop the sensitivity analysis that shows how much project IRR increases if a project qualifies for bonus credits versus base credits and what the compliance cost of meeting domestic content or prevailing wage requirements is compared to the additional credit value? We detect finance answers that describe IRA tax credits as a financing subsidy without engaging with the bonus credit qualification requirements and compliance cost modeling that determine the net benefit of pursuing specific credit structures.	Base ITC/PTC rates versus bonus credit structure and qualification requirements, domestic content and energy community bonus credit financial impact, prevailing wage compliance cost versus bonus credit value trade-off
International operations FX exposure and hedging program management	Can you describe how to manage the FX translation exposure from AES's Latin American operations – how to measure the consolidated earnings sensitivity to changes in the Brazilian real and Chilean peso exchange rates, what hedging instruments are available for managing BRL and CLP exposure and how to evaluate their cost-effectiveness given the expected direction and volatility of those currencies, and how to develop the intercompany financing structure that creates natural currency matching between international subsidiary revenues and the dollar costs of capital that AES's corporate finance needs to service? We flag finance answers that describe international FX management as currency conversion without engaging with the translation exposure measurement and hedging cost-effectiveness analysis that determine whether AES's international earnings are managed appropriately for the currency risk profile.	Latin American currency translation exposure measurement, BRL and CLP hedging instrument evaluation, natural currency matching through intercompany financing structure

How a session works

Step 1: Choose an AES finance scenario – regulated utility rate case financial modeling, non-recourse renewable project finance and tax equity modeling, IRA tax credit economics and domestic content bonus modeling, or international operations FX exposure and hedging program management.

Step 2: The AI interviewer asks realistic AES-style questions: how you would build the financial model for AES Ohio's electric distribution rate case before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, including how to calculate the rate base from the net book value of distribution system assets, how to determine the allowed ROE that AES should request given recent PUCO-approved ROE decisions for Ohio utilities and the current interest rate environment, and how to develop the revenue requirement calculation that translates the allowed return and operating expenses into the annual rate increase request that AES will present to the PUCO for approval; how you would structure the project finance model for a 200 MW utility-scale solar project that AES Clean Energy is developing in an Ohio energy community eligible for the bonus ITC credit, including how to model the tax equity structure, the debt service coverage ratio analysis under different PPA price scenarios, and the project IRR sensitivity to bonus credit qualification under the domestic content requirements; or how you would develop the consolidated earnings impact analysis for a scenario where the Brazilian real depreciates 15 percent against the dollar relative to the prior year FX rate used in the annual plan, including how to calculate the translation impact on AES Brazil's reported earnings in dollars, what hedging positions are in place that reduce the actual earnings impact relative to the unhedged scenario, and what the restatement of guidance implications are for investor communication.

Step 3: You respond as you would in the actual interview. The system scores your answer on regulated utility rate case modeling, project finance structures, IRA tax credit economics, and international FX management.

Step 4: You get sentence-level feedback on what demonstrated genuine power sector finance expertise and what needs stronger rate case regulatory accounting engagement or tax equity project finance structure specificity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is cost of service ratemaking and how does it determine utility rates?
Cost of service ratemaking is the regulatory framework that determines what a regulated utility like AES Indiana or AES Ohio is allowed to charge its customers. The framework starts with the utility's rate base – the net book value of assets used in providing regulated service – and applies an allowed rate of return that includes the cost of debt and an allowed return on equity approved by the utility commission. The resulting allowed dollar return, added to the utility's operating expenses and income taxes, produces the revenue requirement that determines the total revenue the utility is allowed to collect. If actual revenue under current rates is less than the revenue requirement, the utility can file a rate case requesting a rate increase to recover its allowed costs.

How does non-recourse project finance work for AES Clean Energy's renewable projects?
AES Clean Energy finances its utility-scale wind and solar projects through project-level structures where the debt and equity are repaid from the project's own revenues – typically from long-term power purchase agreements with utilities or corporate buyers – rather than from AES's corporate balance sheet. The non-recourse structure means project lenders cannot look to AES's corporate assets if the project fails to generate sufficient cash flows. Tax equity investors participate in the financing by contributing capital in exchange for receiving the project's investment tax credit or production tax credits, which the investor uses to offset their own tax liability. AES's role as project sponsor typically involves contributing equity after the tax equity investor's contribution and receiving the residual cash flows after debt service and the tax equity investor's return.

What are the Inflation Reduction Act tax credits that affect AES Clean Energy's project economics?
The Inflation Reduction Act extended and expanded the investment tax credit (ITC) for solar and storage projects and the production tax credit (PTC) for wind and solar projects. Base credit rates are available to all qualifying projects, with bonus credits available for projects meeting prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements (which typically adds 5x multiplier to base credits), domestic content requirements for project equipment, and energy community siting requirements for projects in communities affected by fossil fuel industry transitions. The bonus credits can significantly improve project economics but require compliance programs and tracking that add development cost and complexity.

How does AES manage currency risk from its international operations?
AES operates in countries including Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Colombia, Jordan, and the Philippines where revenues are denominated in local currencies but significant obligations including debt service and shareholder returns are in US dollars. Currency translation risk affects AES's reported consolidated earnings when local currencies depreciate against the dollar. AES manages this exposure through a combination of natural hedges (matching local currency debt obligations to local currency revenues), financial hedging instruments including forward contracts and options where economically efficient, and intercompany financing structures. The Brazilian real is particularly significant given the scale of AES's Brazilian operations and the real's historical volatility.

What is the financial impact of AES's coal plant retirement program?
AES has been accelerating the retirement of coal-fired generation as part of its decarbonization strategy and in response to the economics of coal relative to natural gas and renewables. Retiring coal plants before the end of their accounting lives creates impairment charges that reduce book value of the retired assets, which may also trigger questions about whether the remaining undepreciated cost can be recovered through regulatory proceedings as stranded costs. In regulated utility contexts, the IURC and PUCO have authority to determine whether ratepayers should share in recovery of retirement costs. The financial planning around coal retirement involves modeling the depreciation acceleration, impairment recognition, and potential regulatory cost recovery in a way that minimizes total financial impact while executing the retirement timeline that the clean energy transition strategy requires.