NIPSCO seeking 17% gas rate increase

The Northern Indiana Public Service Co. said Wednesday it will ask state regulators for a 17% increase in natural gas charges for residential customers.

If approved, the first phase of the increase would go into effect in September 2022, NIPSCO said in a release.

The utility said it needs the increase because costs to provide service to 850,000 customers in 32 counties have gone up.

NIPSCO filed its request with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, which will review the request as well as consider public input at a later date.

“Maintaining a safe system and ensuring the safety of our customers and communities is ingrained in all facets of the work we do now and it will continue to drive how we operate in the future,” said Mike Hooper, NIPSCO’s president and chief operating officer.

“This request will allow for essential resources and investments to sustain the integrity of our infrastructure while balancing costs and improvements to better serve our customers,” he said.

The utility’s last natural gas increase was approved in 2018.

Officials said since then, NIPSCO has invested about $885 million in system upgrades, technology improvements and pipeline safety and reliability initiatives to be completed through the end of 2022.

Based on NIPSCO’s proposal, a residential customer using 70 therms per month and paying about $55 today, would see an overall increase of about $9 per month, or 17%.

This estimated change includes a proposed increase in the monthly customer charge from $14 to $24.50. NIPSCO said the proposed customer charge increase will lead to greater bill stability, which benefits customers by reducing bill fluctuation between high-usage and low-usage periods, especially the winter heating months.

Gary Mayor Jerome Prince said NIPSCO has made significant improvements in its physical facilities and in providing services to Gary residents, but the initial 17% increase was too high.

The IURC approved an electric rate increase for NIPSCO last year.

“Many of our Gary residents are older and living on fixed incomes. A significant increase like that would be very damaging to too many of our friends and neighbors,” said Prince.