Indiana utility regulators will investigate how NIPSCO prepared for and responded to severe August storms that left some northwest Indiana customers without power for more than two weeks.
The storms, which began Aug. 11, knocked out power to 387,010 NIPSCO customers and broke more than 1,230 distribution poles, according to the company.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission voted 4-0 last week to launch the investigation.
The investigation comes amid public outcry over how NIPSCO maintained trees near power lines and decided which communities got power back after the storm. A formal investigation allows the IURC to gather evidence and take binding actions on regulated utilities.
The scope of the investigation includes total damage to infrastructure and necessary upgrades and challenges faced in the restoration process.
Portage Mayor Austin Bonta told WFYI the town was hard-hit by the August outage. Portage had 166 blocked roads immediately after the storm but quickly removed that debris. However, that wasn’t the only cleanup: Recently, Bonta said the city has shifted to partnering with a private company to pick up over 500,000 cubic yards of debris.
During the storm and recovery period, he said the city received the same information and communications from NIPSCO that residential customers did. It was a challenge, he said, because cities do not have regulatory authority over utility companies.
Bonta supports the investigation, but he wants to see the IURC hold NIPSCO and other utility companies held accountable for rate increases, depending on its findings.
“It’s important that those findings lead to what I think are meaningful changes. I mean, essentially, why is it being investigated? Concerns about preparedness, concerns about the communication. If the investigation finds that NIPSCO is not adequately prepared for future emergencies, well, what is the plan afterwards to remedy that situation?” Bonta said.
Gary was especially hard-hit by the outage. Mayor Eddie Melton said he also supports the commission’s investigation.
“The storm was severe, but our residents deserve answers about preparedness, infrastructure, reliability, communication, and the prolonged restoration of power,” Melton said in a statement to WFYI. “An independent, fact-based investigation is the right step to determine what happened, what could have been done differently, and what must change moving forward.”
Governor wants utilities held accountable
Before power was restored in northwest Indiana, Gov. Mike Braun called for an IURC investigation into NIPSCO Aug. 24.
The next day, the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor — the state’s watchdog that advocates for customers — filed a petition requesting the investigation, including looking into NIPSCO’s approved almost $77 million in funding for vegetation management between 2023 and 2024 and over $2 billion infrastructure upgrades since 2026.
The scope of the investigation includes damage to infrastructure and necessary upgrades, but does not mention vegetation management.
The OUCC told WFYI the public has reported concerns over how NIPSCO chooses where to restore power, the order, and when, and has received complaints from residents of Gary.
“Almost 400,000 NIPSCO customers found themselves without power after the August 11 storms, leaving hundreds of thousands of families without power for an unacceptable amount of time. The OUCC takes these matters seriously and looks forward to investigating this issue with a fine-toothed comb,” said the statement.
NIPSCO said in its response to the petition that it did not oppose an investigation. The company said regulators, customers and communities should have a chance to understand the storm's effect on NIPSCO’s infrastructure.
In the filing, the company described the storms as the most widespread outage in its history.
“The derecho (storm) system caused damage at an extraordinary scale and scope for northwest Indiana, resulting in the most widespread service impact to NIPSCO’s approximately 500,000 electric customers in known company history,” the company said in a filing.
“This was an unprecedented storm that caused extraordinary damage across northern Indiana. We are committed to cooperating with the IURC in the investigation that was commenced today, including providing information regarding our storm preparation and response, as well as our operations and ongoing efforts to serve our customers safely and reliably,” NIPSCO said in a separate statement to WFYI.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office said Braun is pleased the IURC approved the investigation and supports action to hold utilities accountable.
“He will continue to pay close attention to the situation and remains committed to prioritizing Hoosier ratepayers,” Griffin Reid told WFYI.
The investigation will also examine:
- Data on customers without power
- A detailed report on the restoration effort
- Mutual assistance from other utilities
- Communication with customers, including “medically vulnerable customers”
- Coordination with governments
- Resources used to monitor and predict weather conditions
Friday, the OUCC asked for more details on the investigation’s scope related to vegetation management.
The IURC will hold an attorney’s conference Sept. 28 to set a procedural schedule for the investigation, “including future dates for an evidentiary hearing and testimonial deadlines for the case’s formal parties.”
Contact WFYI data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org.
