INDIANA – It’s been one week since NIPSCO locked out 1600 United Steelworkers after their contract expired last Thursday at 4 p.m.
What we know:
Earlier this week, Indiana Governor Mike Braun called on NIPSCO to end the lockout and get back to the negotiating table. At the same time, NIPSCO President CEO Vince Parisi testified before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission on Tuesday and was cross-examined by the lawyer representing the Citizens Action Coalition. The group is challenging the billing practices and rates from NIPSCO.
Jennifer Washburn is the lawyer representing CAC, introduced an IURC document called the “2025 Residential Bill Survey.”
It’s a survey that represents a snapshot in time, which includes four municipal utilities, and five investor-owned utilities, which include NIPSCO. It compares what the eight utilities charge by consumption, the averages, the percentage changes year-to-date, and over the past ten years. This survey found NIPSCO charged the highest amounts, which became a point of contention between Washburn and Parisi.
“NIPSCO has now (sic) the highest electric bills in the state for residential customers right,” asked Washburn.
“I don’t think that’s correct,” said Parisi.
Washburn mentioned the survey and went over the amounts in each of the bills and showed Parisi that NIPSCO charged the highest amount out of all the utility companies listed in the survey.
“It has a ranking of eight of eight. Do you see that on the first column?” asked Washburn.
Parisi acknowledged that is correct, but disagreed on Washburn’s assessment that NIPSCO has the highest electric bills in Indiana.
“If you’re making comparisons column by column, that is correct, but customers don’t experience bills based upon columns and when you look at the bill, NIPSCO’s average residential usage is 672 kwh a month, and that compared to the other utilities’ average residential bill, is about on par,” said Parisi.
Washburn once again showed other numbers where NIPSCO had higher amounts, but Parisi once again said it doesn’t line up to the average resident is paying every month.
“Are you disputing that NIPSCO has the highest electric residential rates in the state?” said Washburn.
“You asked about residential bill and from a residential bill, NIPSCO’s average residential bill is about $162 a month, which puts it on par with the average residential bills from the other electric utilities,” said Parisi.
The backstory:
Over the past few months, Fox Chicago has reported that customers’ utility bills have doubled or even tripled this past winter compared to the year before. It’s resulted in several Facebook groups forming, where customers have compared their utility bills with others. It’s also resulted in the IURC launching an investigation into the billing practices of NIPSCO. Commissioners are also holding several town halls across the state, where they want to hear from residents about their NIPSCO bills.
Private Equity Investment in NIPSCO
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