CROWN POINT, Ind. — The Lake County Council has voted unanimously to urge the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to reject a proposed Northern Indiana Public Service Company rate increase, adding local political pressure as state regulators prepare a storm-response probe and consumer advocates challenge filings made while the Region was still recovering from the Aug. 11 derecho.
FOX 32 Chicago reported Sept. 10 that the council’s Tuesday vote asked the IURC to deny a NIPSCO rate increase going into the fall. The same report said IURC Chairman Anthony Swinger intends for the commission to move forward with an investigation into NIPSCO’s storm response, though formal steps — including a prehearing conference — had not yet been scheduled. NIPSCO declined to comment to FOX 32 that day.
Key facts
- Aug. 11: rate-increase request filed the day the derecho hit
- Aug. 14: second filing
- Aug. 20: third filing
The Times of Northwest Indiana reported Aug. 27 that NIPSCO, based in Merrillville, submitted three rate-related filings in the days after hurricane-force straight-line winds of more than 100 mph left a record share of Lake County without power, according to IURC records cited by the paper. A NIPSCO spokesperson told The Times the August filings were “routine quarterly or semi-annual proceedings previously authorized” by the IURC to recover fuel costs, regional transmission organization costs, and resource adequacy and reliability costs, and to pass back certain renewable-energy credits.
Citizens Action Coalition Program Director Ben Inskeep told The Times the three filings since Aug. 11 would raise residential bills by more than $7 per month when NIPSCO customers already face the highest bills in Indiana, and later put the incremental figure at an extra $7.33 a month. Trackers, he said, let utilities recover spending increases on a quarterly basis without a full rate case and have contributed to soaring bills. The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor and the NIPSCO Industrial Group both intervened in the cases, The Times reported, saying they expect a substantial impact.
That local rate fight sits inside a broader accountability campaign. Region News Source reported Aug. 24 that Gov. Mike Braun directed the OUCC to file a complaint and petition seeking an IURC investigation into NIPSCO’s preparation for and response to the storm, including vegetation management and whether ratepayer-funded tracker spending was used as intended. At peak, about 301,000 of NIPSCO’s roughly 500,000 customers were without power, Region News Source reported, citing the governor’s office. “NIPSCO has failed to keep its end of the bargain,” Braun said in that account.
The Times separately noted Braun’s call for an OUCC investigation into outages that stretched across communities including Gary and Portage, and reported that East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland asked NIPSCO to provide financial relief for residents who incurred grocery, dining, and generator costs during the blackout. NIPSCO told customers seeking food-loss compensation that liability can apply under some circumstances but that the utility is not liable after a storm considered “an act of God,” The Times reported.
Organizers also planned a Saturday afternoon protest outside NIPSCO’s Gary headquarters, FOX 32 reported. Valparaiso resident Sue Baxter, helping organize the event, said the protest was about storm recovery timelines, vegetation and easement maintenance, preparedness, restoration procedures, rates and delivery charges, and communication with customers and local governments. Gary mayoral candidate Preston Ruby said he planned to attend and questioned whether Northwest Indiana residents should have waited more than two weeks for power.