Gary Mayor Demands Independent Utility Grid Inquiry as Thousands of Residents Endure 12-Day Outage

GARY, IN — Gary Mayor Eddie Melton convened an emergency municipal press conference on Sunday afternoon, formally petitioning the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) to launch an independent management audit of Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) following chronic power restoration delays.

Extended Outages and Community Crisis

Twelve days after severe derecho thunderstorms with 80-mph straight-line winds battered Lake County, over 3,500 residential households in Gary's Glen Park and Midtown neighborhoods remain without electrical power. The prolonged outage has spoiled family food supplies, disabled medical oxygen concentrators, and forced elderly residents to seek relief at municipal cooling centers.

Mayor Melton criticized NIPSCO for insufficient mutual aid contractor deployment and inaccurate restoration time estimates provided to affected ratepayers.

"It is completely unacceptable that thousands of Gary families are entering their second week without electricity during August heat," Melton declared. "Our residents pay their utility bills, and they deserve a hardened grid and an accountable utility provider."

Municipal Aid and Regulatory Demands

The City of Gary deployed mobile generator units and coordinated with local non-profit food banks to distribute fresh food boxes and ice to affected blocks. The Gary City Council will table an emergency ordinance requiring electric utilities to establish real-time neighborhood outage liaison offices during multi-day emergencies.

NIPSCO stated that over 400 contract lineworkers are replacing 120 broken utility poles and rebuilding high-voltage substation connections across Lake County.

State Regulatory Response

The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) confirmed it will submit a formal intervention petition to the state regulatory commission by Friday.