INDIANA -- The deadly derecho packing 99 mile an hour winds knocked out power to more than 370,000 families and businesses two weeks ago today.

Tonight, NIPSCO still has thousands of customers in the dark, mostly in hard hit Gary.

Governor Braun is estimating more than $5 billion in damages from all the flooding and other storm damage across the state.

On Tuesday, ABC57 News attempted to speak with the following: the governor's office, NIPSCO, the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC), Senator David Niezgodski, Senator Rodney Pol, Jr. and Senator Mark Spencer. They declined to participate in our story and instead sent prepared statements.

Below are the questions ABC57 asked NIPSCO Tuesday morning.

1. Many NIPSCO customers are saying they will not be paying their bill. For this two-week period of no power, can you please share what pay period this falls in? Will NIPSCO customers be charged for the time they were without power?

2. NIPSCO was recently hit with a class action lawsuit alleging vegetation has not been maintained in and around powerlines leading to power outages. What is your response to this claim?

3. The class action suit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. Do you believe the plaintiffs deserve compensation?

4. Can you share what you know about NIPSCO workers being shot at in Gary? 

5. Mayor Melton said yesterday NIPSCO did not mobilize enough linemen immediately after the derecho. What is your response to that? When did you bring in additional contractor crews and support from neighboring utilities?

6. Why does Gary seem to come last for restoration, according to residents?

7. What is NIPSCO's vegetation management process and timeline? How often is it maintained? Are there any areas that have been marked as red flags prior to the storms? 

This is NIPSCO's response Tuesday afternoon.

"We have engaged additional contractor crews throughout our service territory and continue to bring in support from neighboring utilities and mutual assistance partners from across the country. Our teams are assigned to outages large and small, and we remain committed to reaching every affected customer in all of our communities. No outage is being overlooked, and no customer will be left behind as we continue this restoration effort.

On Aug. 11, 2026, Northwest Indiana experienced a series of storms, including two tornadoes and a derecho that caused catastrophic damage, leaving more than 60% of our approximately 500,000 electric customers without power. In the days that followed, weather events resulted in additional outages totaling approximately 374,500 customers impacted. 

This unprecedented series of storms has caused catastrophic damage across Northern Indiana. NIPSCO employees who live in these communities have been working around the clock since before the first storm touched down. The past several days have brought significant challenges for many of our customers and communities. We are deeply grateful for their patience as restoration and recovery efforts continue. 

NIPSCO has worked closely with local officials, emergency management agencies, state leaders and the Indiana National Guard throughout the response. Hundreds of crews and thousands of mutual assistance personnel from across the country have been working to help rebuild damaged infrastructure and restore service to affected communities in Northwest Indiana. 

Across the region, crews are working 24 hours a day to repair and rebuild infrastructure damaged by this historic storm. We remain focused on restoration, and we will not rest until power is restored to every home and small business in our service territory. 

For thelatest restoration progress update and timeline, please visit NIPSCO.com/out."

We asked Governor Braun's office the following questions Tuesday morning.

1. In the governor's release, he called NIPSCO a "monopoly utility." Does he specifically think Nipsco should be broken up?

2. What can the state do to invest in Gary's public infrastructure and incentivize economic development? 

3. When will Governor Braun visit Gary?

4. What are the governor's thoughts on the class action lawsuit against NIPSCO?

5. If state regulators end up finding actionable fault at the hands of NIPSCO, can he commit to the AG prosecuting the case on behalf of the state?

This is the statement we received from Governor Braun Tuesday afternoon.

"At my direction, the state has spared no expense and deployed every available resource to support Northwest Indiana. 

We have been in close communication with local officials to address every need they share—and in many cases, we have deployed additional resources based on our own assessments and to support power restoration. 

NIPSCO failed Hoosiers despite having access to every state resource available. Teams from Indiana State Police, INDOT, Department of Natural Resources and Department of Correction have worked alongside 71 National Guardsmen to literally clear the way so NIPSCO could get the power on."

ABC57 did catch up with Gary resident, Paul H. Flowers, Jr. who spoke with us on Friday and showed us an empty fridge and how he's keeping light in the home. Today, he's cleaned out that fridge, ready for fresh groceries and ready for his full house again. 

"I've been hearing too many things about the water to just put dirty dishes in to be cleaned. The refrigerator, of course, was already emptied, but then going back and cleaning it out with the bleach and getting the floors back together, all of the linens, sheets. Just really starting over, essentially, which it's almost like a forced spring cleaning when it's the fall or heading into it," said Flowers.

Thousands of people in northwest Indiana were without power for weeks. Many opted to spend time in tents because it was cooler outside in 80-degree weather than it was in the house.

Governor Mike Braun called for an investigation into NIPSCO following the weeks-long outage. While the power is back on for Flowers, the true realization that NIPSCO is a monopoly has him feeling powerless once again.

"That is very concerning, realizing that we have a company that is the only company. You know, it's not like you can go anywhere else and get your power. We can't tap into ComEd in Illinois and have them run a separate line right to our homes, knowing that when power goes down there, if it's two days, right, that's about it."

A handful of State Senators including South Bend's David Niezgodski called on Governor Braun to expand the investigation into NIPSCO and called for NIPSCO to come up with a customer relief plan to either refund customers or provide a billing credit for the time without power.

Statements:

"We one hundred percent need to know what happened and why. But that won’t make up for lost wages, spoiled food, and hotel stays, and it certainly won’t make paying your budgeted bill this next month any easier when you spent two weeks in the dark

We called for NIPSCO to present a “comprehensive customer-relief plan, including automatic refunds or bill credits for any improper or inaccurate charges during the outage, immediate appropriate adjustments for customers enrolled in budget billing or a clear process for compensating ratepayers affected by prolonged service failures,” because it is up to NIPSCO to provide this immediate relief.

It is bad enough that NIPSCO has requested three rate increases since August 11 while families were sitting without power; it would be unconscionable not to provide needed relief to these same families when NIPSCO is more than capable of doing so.

We can, and plan to, look at policy solutions in the upcoming session, but families in Northwest Indiana can’t wait until July 1, 2027.

As we continue restoration efforts, I intend to meet with United Steelworkers Local 12775, representing frontline NIPSCO workers, for the perspective of those who had boots on the ground during restoration.

Finally, as our Region braces for potentially extreme weather tomorrow, I am calling on NIPSCO to make immediate preparations to adequately respond to the needs of our community.

·                     Sen. Pol

“At Gov. Braun’s direction, the OUCC is actively working on a petition requesting the IURC investigate NIPSCO for its reliability.  NIPSCO customers paid over $81 million for vegetation management from 2023-2025. NIPSCO has been authorized approximately $2.3 billion of customer dollars to replace aging infrastructure since 2016. We will be asking the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to investigate how those dollars were spent. We look forward to continuing our mission of protecting ratepayers and we thank Governor Braun for his trust in our agency and support for Hoosiers across the state.”

    -OUCC