FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2003
11:00 a.m. CST

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
 
Regina D. Biddings, Director
NIPSCO Communications & Community Relations
(219) 647-6388

Storm Restoration Efforts Nearing Completion
165,000 Customers Restored During Six Days of Storms

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. --- During six days of often-violent storms, damaging winds and heavy rains, Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) employees worked around the clock to restore power to approximately 165,000 customers across the company's service territory from Hammond to Angola. This restoration effort involved responding to over 5,000 separate damage incidents. About 100 customers still remain without power as a result of scattered outages.

The series of severe thunderstorms that swept across the entire Midwest, which were often accompanied by tornado watches, started Fri., July 4, and finally gave workers a reprieve by Wednesday evening.

The storms caused extensive damage to NIPSCO's electric system due to fallen trees and high winds knocking down wires and breaking poles, in many cases causing repeated damage to areas because the storms hit several areas more than once during the six-day storm series. The same storm system caused extensive damage in downstate Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio.

There is still a chance that some strong, and possibly even severe, storms may impact NIPSCO's eastern areas today, potentially causing more damage in Plymouth, Goshen, and Angola, before finally moving into Ohio.

"NIPSCO employees rose to the occasion to restore power to our customers under frustrating circumstances," said NIPSCO President and Chief Executive Officer Barrett Hatches. "Due to the magnitude of the storms we faced, our employees were returning to the same places twice, and sometimes three times, to make repairs to get customers restored. I truly appreciate their determination and hard work. I also want to thank our customers for their patience while we worked to restore their power."

As always, we caution customers 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.

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.