FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 01, 2001

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

NIPSCO OFFERS NEW SERVICE TO CUSTOMERS

MERRILLVILLE, IN .Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) announced today that customers in Porter and Allen counties can now protect themselves from costly and inconvenient electrical repairs in their home by enrolling in its newest program, Electric Line Protection (ELP).

"Homeowners are ordinarily responsible for any malfunctions that occur to their electrical wiring inside the home," said Dave Moore, director of Energy Products and Services for NIPSCO. "ELP allows customers protection from costly repairs to the electric service on the inside of their home due to normal 'wear and tear'."

ELP is a new service agreement program developed to offer complete, comprehensive repair service for customers' homes when malfunctions occur. The annual service agreement will pay for the repair or replacement of electrical components, up to $2,500 per year.

"Customers who enroll in the program and experience electrical malfunctions can rest assured that they'll receive repairs to those covered components by a highly qualified electrical contractor quickly," Moore said.

Moore stated that ELP is an extension of Gas Line Protection (GLP), one of the company's more popular natural gas programs. GLP covers the cost of repairs to covered natural gas components that malfunction within the home. Customers interested in obtaining more information about ELP are encouraged to visit the company's website at www.nipsco.com or call 1-800-464-7726.

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.