Business Description

Item 1.— Business is an outline of our strategy and our businesses by SBU, including key financial drivers. Additional items that may have an impact on our businesses are discussed in Item 1A.— Risk Factors and Item 3.— Legal Proceedings . Executive Summary Incorporated in 1981, AES is a global energy company accelerating the future of energy. Together with our many stakeholders, we are improving lives by delivering the greener, smarter energy solutions the world needs. Our diverse workforce is committed to continuous innovation and operational excellence, while partnering with our customers on their strategic energy transitions and continuing to meet their energy needs today. Our Strategy AES is the next-generation energy company with over four decades of experience developing, operating, and owning electric generation and utilities. The focus of our strategy is to partner with large corporations to deliver the electricity they need when they need it. We are very well-positioned as a leading provider of renewable energy to data center companies, particularly in the U.S., and to large mining companies outside the U.S. These customers want to work with AES due to our track record of providing customized solutions that best serve their specific needs and delivering our projects on time and on budget. In 2025, we signed long-term contracts for 4.0 GW of renewables, bringing our backlog of projects — those with signed contracts, but which are not yet in operation — to 12.0 GW. Our backlog serves as one of the core components of our future growth. As a result of our successful execution of our strategy, we have been consistently rated by Bloomberg New Energy Finance as one of the top two largest sellers globally of renewable power to corporate customers. At the same time, we have embarked on the most ambitious investment growth in the history of our U.S. utilities, which will improve the reliability and quality of service for our customers, while maintaining some of the lowest rates in both states where our utilities operate. AES Indiana and AES Ohio are now two of the fastest growth U.S. utilities, with projected double-digit rate base growth through 2027, based on necessary investments for our 6 | 2025 Annual Report customers. We are also seeing additional investment opportunities from data center growth in our utility service areas, above and beyond existing rate base projections. Our utilities have many natural advantages that are attractive to large technology companies, such as proximity to fiber networks and the presence of ample land and water. We have worked to proactively identify sites that are well-positioned to support new data centers, capitalizing on our deep relationships with technology companies. 2025 Strategic Highlights • Our backlog, which consists of projects with signed contracts, but which are not yet operational, is 12.0 GW, including 5.7 GW under construction. In full year 2025, we: ◦ Completed the construction of 3.2 GW of solar, energy storage, and wind; and ◦ Signed or were awarded new long-term PPAs for 4.0 GW of renewables. • At AES Indiana, filed with the IURC a partial settlement agreement for current rate review, as well as a 20-year IRP. • At AES Ohio, received PUCO approval for its distribution rate case and filed for new multi-year base distribution rates for 2027 through 2029. • With the sale of a minority interest in AGIC for $450 million in the first quarter of 2025, we achieved our full year 2025 asset sale proceeds target of $400 to $500 million. Overview Generation We currently own and/or operate a generation portfolio of 34,740 MW, including generation from our integrated utility, AES Indiana. Our generation fleet is diversified by technologies and fuel type. See discussion below under Fuel Costs . Performance drivers of our generation businesses include types of electricity sales agreements, plant reliability and flexibility, availability of generation capacity to meet contracted sales, fuel costs,