Officials with Northern Indiana’s power utility company heard an earful from residents and community leaders during stakeholder meetings Wednesday.
NIPSCO crews are still working to restore power to thousands of residents after a derecho knocked out electricity to more than 300,000 customers, or more than 60% of the company’s total coverage area.
A top level executive with NIPSCO’s parent company, NISOURCE, told reporters and community members they hear the complaints, but will not be able to restore power for tens of thousands of Northwest Indiana residents until next week.
Munster Resident David Gilbert says he is preparing for the possibility that he won’t have power back on until September. He says he doesn’t blame NIPSCO for the delayed service – but wishes they would be more accessible.
“Weve called them three or four times, been told we’re on the emergency list and its like a priority but other than that we don’t know when they’re coming out,” Gilbert said while moving tree debris from his backyard.
NIPSCO officials say they aren’t shying away from the criticism.
“My team heard loud and clear that better communication is needed and we agree,” said NISOURCE Executive VP Melody Birmingham.
Birmingham confirmed residents in cities like Gary, Munster and Highland will likely have to wait until Tuesday – two weeks after the storm hit – for power to be restored. In Illinois, ComEd had nearly all south suburban residents without power back up and running within days.
“There are vast difference that are system related, the impact that came through, the trees, the infrastructure, the access, that’s the difference,” Birmingham said.
Birmingham says more than 80% of the 400,000 affected customers have had power restored. She said crews are assessing more than 2,000 miles of power lines, many blocked by uprooted trees. Michigan City Democratic Indiana State Rep. Randy Novak says lawmakers have been pressuring NIPSCO for answers.
“Were gonna have after actions and everything else to figure out what went wrong, what if anything went right,” Nocak said. “Obviously we’d have liked to have seen this happen a lot faster.”
NIPSCO has previously come under fire for getting the green light to raise rates $257 million, resulting in higher average utility bills.
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