FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2001

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT
Julia Van De Water, Manager
NIPSCO Communications
(219) 647-6375

NIPSCO PROVIDES $1.3 MILLION IN ASSISTANCE FUNDS FOR CUSTOMERS IN NEED
Local Salvation Army Offices to Distribute Dollars

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. - Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) announced today the company has set aside $1.3 million to help customers pay this past winter's heating bills. The NIPSCO Supplemental Energy Assistance Fund is a company-sponsored program designed to assist customers who have had difficulty, possibly for the first time, in paying their 2000-2001 winter natural gas bills.

"Our customers told us that they needed additional help this winter and we listened," said Barrett Hatches, NIPSCO president and chief executive officer. "We decided that this assistance was another way to continue our commitment to be a good citizen. Many of our customers who experienced hardships this winter will benefit from this corporate contribution."

Hatches said the fund was created to assist NIPSCO customers who typically don't qualify for energy assistance under Indiana's Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) guidelines. Instead, NIPSCO's fund focuses on customers who have received a notice of discontinuation for service and demonstrate they are within the 175 to 250 percentiles of state poverty guidelines. Salvation Army offices located across NIPSCO's service territory will administer the funds for NIPSCO. Customers who think they may qualify should contact a local Salvation Army office immediately. The program will continue until the funds are distributed. "The decision to work with the Salvation Army is a logical one," said Violet Sistovaris, executive director of NIPSCO's Customer Service. "We needed one agency to administer the funds throughout our customer communities."

In addition to the many Salvation Army offices available to NIPSCO customers throughout its service territory, many of the Salvation Army offices within northern Indiana already administer NIPSCO's Gift of Warmth dollars and are very familiar with energy assistance programs.

Recognizing the difficulty its customers faced this heating season, NIPSCO shareholders increased the dollar match for NIPSCO's Gift of Warmth program this year to two dollars for every dollar raised in each community. The company also distributed 13,000 weatherization kits to social service agencies to help customers focus attention on conservation as an ongoing activity to control energy costs.

NIPSCO, with headquarters in Merrillville, Ind., is one of the 10 energy distribution companies of NiSource Inc. (NYSE: NI). With approximately 700,000 natural gas customers and 430,000 electric customers across the northern third of Indiana, NIPSCO is the largest natural gas distribution company, and the second largest electric distribution company, in the state. NiSource distribution companies serve 3.6 million natural gas and electric customers primarily in nine states. More information about NIPSCO is available at www.nipsco.com.