IURC Gary Session: What Was Said and What It Means for C&I

More than 20 people testified Monday, including state lawmakers and union members. State Rep. Earl Harris Jr. laid out what large numbers of your employees are living, people choosing between keeping heat on, buying groceries, filling prescriptions, and covering other bills. Residents described gas delivery charges that ran around $20 per month and now run close to $100. A small business representative from Gary described a NIPSCO bill of approximately $149,000 after earlier bills in the tens of thousands. A resident reported a $2,240 balance climbing despite installment payments.

Citizens Action Coalition has already documented statewide electric bills up 17.5%. NIPSCO residential customers were hit hardest, roughly $50 more per month, a 26.7% increase in one year. That sits on top of a 22% electric rate increase NIPSCO pushed through in 2024, which itself followed another double-digit hike the year prior.

NIPSCO's formal position is that it does not set rates unilaterally, every increase goes through the IURC, the Consumer Counselor, and groups like Citizens Action Coalition. The utility points to infrastructure investment requirements and has announced a $1.5 million bill assistance program launching this summer, along with a commitment to hold off on residential disconnections for non-payment through mid-May.

Here is the problem with that framing. Listening sessions do not lower your bill. House Enrolled Act 1002 ties utility profits to performance metrics, affordability, service restoration, and allows some budget billing and shutoff protections on a three-year rate plan. Those are not nothing. But if affordability gets defined narrowly around residential customers, additional subsidies get stacked on top of what commercial and industrial customers already pay. Per cost-of-service analysis at the close of NIPSCO's last rate case, C&I customers are already subsidizing residential rates by roughly 17 to 33%. The underlying cost structure, NIPSCO's allowed return on equity, its management decisions, has not been addressed. Until it is, the baseline stays high, and additional assistance programs just get layered on top of it.

When the energy affordability report drops, look for two specific things: whether it addresses cost-of-service alignment across all customer classes, and whether it takes on NIPSCO's allowed return on equity and management decisions in a material way. If it doesn't, what you're looking at is more process, not lower costs.