As triple-digit temperatures gripped Northwest Indiana this summer during a national heatwave, cities opened cooling centers and residents cranked up their air conditioners to stay safe. Days later, the region’s primary utility company hiked its electricity rates to a record high.
Northern Indiana Public Service Co., the state’s largest natural gas and second-largest electric company, recently increased electricity rates after receiving approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
Residents say the increase adds strain to already-stretched household budgets, where many live on fixed incomes and face some of the highest utility bills in the state.
Vince Parisi, president of NIPSCO, said in a statement that the increased rates are expected to address “the need for critical investments.”
“We understand that any increase in bills is significant,” he said, “and we remain focused on supporting our customers through this transition with new assistance programs and continued improvements to service and reliability.”
NIPSCO estimates the average residential electric customer will see an increase of approximately $23 per month, or nearly 17%, over the next year. Comparatively, this is a reduction from the originally proposed increase of $32 per month, which drew strong community backlash from Gary residents last year. The rates began July 1, and will continue in incremental increases until early 2026, according to NIPSCO.
The increase comes at a time when Gary residents have continuously and consistently expressed frustration over the utility company’s monopoly over the region, and unaffordable prices as they stretch their fixed incomes for rising utility, grocery, and costs of living.
“When is enough going to be enough? NIPSCO is a monopoly in our region, and it’s not right. It’s another money grab, when we have so many other things that … people in underserved communities are going through financially,” said Sidney Savage, NAACP Gary executive board member.
Gary’s median income is less than $40,000 a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In Lake County, utility affordability ranks as the third-highest cause of stress for residents, a 2022 Franciscan Health Community Health Needs Assessment found.
Across Northern Indiana, NIPSCO’s nearly 500,000 electric customers pay the highest electric bills of any investor-owned or municipal utility company in the state, according to data from the Citizens Action Coalition, Indiana’s oldest consumer and environmental advocacy organization.
“For a senior on a fixed income, they’re going to have to make some very tough decisions,” Savage said. “I can just imagine, the decisions between certain medications, as expensive as those are, and, you know, budgeting on a NIPSCO bill, a basic necessity.”
Savage added that many older residents are being squeezed by rising costs and limited incomes.
“What are seniors going to do?” he said. “People are having sticker shock at these increases right now. People are at that breaking point financially, and we live right now where you work a full-time job and still can’t afford necessities. It’s just insane.”
The utility hike proposal drew consistent backlash throughout last year, resulting in a three-hour public forum hosted by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission at the Gary Public Library in Miller last December. Dozens of residents turned out to plead with state regulators, urging them not to approve the increase.
Many shared personal stories of hardship. Others criticized NIPSCO’s status as a regional monopoly, questioning how the company could justify profit-driven rate hikes in a city with one of the lowest median incomes in the state.
“I still continue to see very minimal, very minimal intake from the community, and it is being taken seriously,” Savage said. “It’s just a shame all of the profits that NIPSCO is getting, that they can’t find a better way to serve our community.”