FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2003

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
 
Larry Graham, Manager
NIPSCO Communications & Community Relations
(260) 439-1330

Late Monday Night Storm Cut Power to 27,000
17,000 Customers Remain Without Power as of Noon Tuesday

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. --- NIPSCO's service area was again hit by powerful storms beginning at 11:00 p.m. Monday night, causing additional damage that interrupted power to 27,000 customers as the storms swept across the utility's northern Indiana service territory.

The late Monday night storm caused extensive damage to NIPSCO's electric system due to fallen trees and high winds knocking down wires and breaking poles, in some cases causing damage to areas where repairs had been made from previous storms having hit the area since Friday afternoon.

Damage is still being assessed, but NIPSCO officials are estimating service will not be restored to all customers until late Wednesday at the earliest. Additional storms are predicted for today and Wednesday that could cause more damage and outages, further extending restoration times.

NIPSCO had a peak of 30,000 customers without power on Monday following a morning storm that moved across its entire northern Indiana service territory. Repair crews had reduced the number of customer outages to approximately 6,000 when the late Monday night storm hit the area.

Crews have been working continuously since Friday afternoon, July 4, to repair damage caused by a series of severe storms that have moved across NIPSCO's northern Indiana service territory.

Customers are cautioned not to touch any downed power lines and to contact 1-800-4-NIPSCO to report outages through our automated phone system. Crews will continue to work diligently and safely to restore power as quickly as possible. We appreciate our customers' patience during the restoration period.

NIPSCO, with headquarters in Merrillville, Ind., is one of the 10 energy distribution companies of NiSource Inc. (NYSE: NI). With nearly 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 3.7 million natural gas and electric customers primarily in nine states. More information about NIPSCO is available at www.nipsco.com.