NIPSCO Power Struggle: Gary Residents Demand Answers

Anger grew among Gary residents when an online power restoration timeline from NIPSCO excluded their city. A powerful storm on August 11 left 301,000 NIPSCO customers without power, and many residents, including those in Northwest Indiana, faced nine days of outages. As of 11 a.m. Thursday, 64,017 customers remained without power, with 25,560 in Gary.

Gary Mayor Eddie Melton addressed these concerns at a press conference with Melody Birmingham, president of the Utilities Group at NiSource. NiSource is NIPSCO’s parent company. Birmingham provided an estimated restoration time for Tuesday, trying to address frustrations as power returned to neighboring cities and some schools reopened. Still, several parts of Gary were without electricity.

“We learned from COVID that being open is best for students… The families really appreciated us being open.”

The 21st Century Charter School resumed classes, illustrating how some segments received power back. However, Gary Community School Corp. schools without power stayed shut. Mayor Melton insisted that Gary had not been abandoned, stating that workers were consistently active.

Birmingham elaborated on the severe and complex damage, likening the impact of the storm’s 99 mph winds to a Category 2 hurricane. This devastation required extensive repairs, usually taking weeks or months, but efforts continued at an accelerated pace.

NIPSCO’s operations involved assessing about 2,000 miles of power systems on foot to plan repairs. Workers identified needs for substantial repairs or replacements on 291 utility poles, 44 transmission poles, and 27 substation outages before power could be restored.

Birmingham recognized the difficulties faced by the community as electricity remained out, endangering food, homes, and peace of mind. Despite the challenges, workers continued to make progress, restoring power to about 17,000 homes in the area.

In a press conference, Birmingham also explained how an incident involving gunshots targeting NIPSCO workers did not hinder restoration efforts. There were no injuries, the shooting was considered isolated, and police investigations allowed work to resume quickly with additional support from out-of-state crews.

In the faith community, Pastor Antoine Goffin organized a vigil called “Prayer for Gary” on City Hall’s steps, drawing 82 participants. Goffin, who also serves as New Chicago’s police chief, sought communication with NIPSCO to improve transparency and minimize frustration when restoration times were postponed.

“We learned the restoration was not based on socio-economic class. It was based on infrastructure,”

Goffin emphasized the need for clear communication to reduce social media complaints. The clergy highlighted that restoration efforts were driven by the severity of infrastructure damage, not community status.