Indiana Regulators Order Independent Audit of Utility Storm Response as Thousands Remain in the Dark

GARY, IN — Indiana state regulators announced an expedited independent investigation Saturday as over 14,000 residents and businesses across Northwest Indiana entered their tenth consecutive day without electrical power following severe straight-line storm winds.

Regulatory Review and Vegetation Management

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) ordered northern Indiana utility operators to submit detailed logs of tree-trimming expenditures and mutual aid mobilization timelines over the past five years.

The regulatory audit follows a class-action lawsuit filed by residential ratepayer groups alleging that inadequate preventative vegetation maintenance exacerbated catastrophic power line failures during the August 11 storm system.

Emergency Mutual Aid Deployment

Over 800 supplemental line crews from Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio are currently working 16-hour shifts to rebuild splintered transmission poles and replace residential transformers, with full grid restoration projected by Monday evening.