STORM RESTORATION WORK CONTINUES

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. -- All available Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) linemen, linemen from neighboring utilities, outside electrical contractors, engineers, customer service personnel and NIPSCO supervisors continue to work on restoration of electric service to customers affected by the Tuesday, May 9, severe storms that moved through the area. These storms caused severe damage to NIPSCO lines and poles, as well as widespread damage to customers' electric service equipment. Over 25,000 customers were out of service at the peak of the storm. As of 6:00 a.m. this morning the number of customers had been reduced to 3,400. Most of these remaining customers are in the Gary, Hammond, Munster and Highland areas in Lake County and LaPorte and Michigan City in LaPorte County. These areas received some of the most severe storm damage to customer property and NIPSCO's electric system. Many of the remaining customer outages involve broken poles, downed trees and wires, and work in easements behind homes, making the restoration process more difficult. Homeowners should be aware that, in cases where the electric service weather head was damaged or torn from the house, an electrician may need to make repairs before NIPSCO can restore electric service. NIPSCO anticipates all customers will be restored by Thursday. NIPSCO wants to remind customers to never approach downed power lines but instead call our customer service center, which is in operation 24 hours a day, at 1-800-464-7726 (1-800-4-NIPSCO) to report damage and outages.

STORM RESTORATION WORK CONTINUES

We thank the many dedicated employees who worked long hours to complete this job. We also thank our customers for their patience, understanding and cooperation during this difficult restoration effort. Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), a subsidiary of NiSource Inc., is a regulated utility that provides natural gas to nearly 700,000 customers and electricity to 416,000 customers across the northern third of Indiana. NIPSCO is the largest natural gas distribution company and the second largest electric distribution company in Indiana. Information about NiSource Inc. and its subsidiaries is available via the Internet at www.nisource.com.