MERRILLVILLE, Ind.--- Northern Indiana Public Service Company crews will continue to work through the evening to restore electricity to customers who were affected by last night's storm. Heavy accumulation of ice on many power lines and trees caused extensive damage to a widespread area across NIPSCO's service territory.

At the storm's peak, 20,000 NIPSCO customers were without power. Areas hardest hit by the storm include Valparaiso, LaPorte, Plymouth, Warsaw, Goshen, and Angola with scattered outages in Hammond, Gary, East Chicago, and Monticello.

"As of 3 p.m., approximately 12,000 customers remain without power," said Tom Retseck, NIPSCO manager, Service Operations. "We have crews across the territory that will be working throughout the evening and expect to have most of our customers back on by late this evening."

Due to extensive tree damage , some customers may still experience power outages beyond this evening. As restoration activities continue, the company will continue to provide additional information.

Customers also are reminded to keep away from all downed power lines, and to report such incidents to our phone center at 1-800-4-NIPSCO (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 670,000 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.