NIPSCO has a new Manager of Public Affairs in northern Indiana. Angela Nelson replaces Mike Charbonneau in that position, and she attended the Starke United Radio Auction last week, where WKVI’s Ted Hayes took the opportunity to interview her.
Nelson, who has been on the job for four months, told WKVI a little bit about herself.
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As part of a company-wide initiative spanning all of their territory, NIPSCO has marked the completion of a very successful employee giving campaign, including a monetary donation to the Food Bank of Northern Indiana. NIPSCO’s donation will provide up to 12,000 meals to Elkhart, Kosciusko, La Porte, Marshall, Starke, and St. Joseph County homes.
Heating bills for NIPSCO customers are expected to decrease by 7.7 percent this winter. Market projections indicate that this winter, natural gas prices will remain among the lowest in more than 10 years.
West Central School Corporation representatives and student leaders, as well as parents and members of the press, were present to celebrate the start of construction on the school’s utility-grade wind turbine project. A ceremonial breaking of the ground was planned for Friday, Sept. 30 at 9:30 a.m., but because of rain, the ceremony was held inside the auxiliary gymnasium and Superintendent Charles Mellon wisely decided against digging a hole in the gym floor to commemorate the occasion.
The West Central School Corporation will hold a groundbreaking event for the Wind Power Project on Friday, September 30th at 9:30 a.m. ET.
This is Indiana’s first community wind project to be part of the NIPSCO Feed-in-Tariff program. The turbine will be located on the school campus in the agricultural field behind the football stadium.
Kankakee Valley REMC and NIPSCO customers are being asked to conserve electricity as much as possible.
REMC has been working with its large power customers by implementing agreements that allow for interruption of service. Residential and small commercial customers are asked to voluntarily limit the use of electricity as much as possible. All load management problems are being used to reduce demand. Turn off all unnecessary lights, delay the use of major appliances until late at night or early morning hours and set thermostats no lower than 78 degrees.
Paul Warnke and Ken Jones came before the Starke County Commissioners this week to report on the progress of the Koontz Lake Sewer Project.
Jones told the Commissioners that the project is ahead of schedule and street and road restoration began this week which is making the public very happy.
The restoration could not begin until NIPSCO pressure tested the power to the grinder pumps. After that was done, the cuts in the road could be restored. Continue reading
The City of Knox has joined Hammond and LaPorte in opposing an electric rate increase proposed by NIPSCO for electric. The resolution will be sent to the State Regulatory Agency stating the reasons for the opposition.
The resolution is supporting Hammond’s lawsuit against the increase.
US 421 is now open in the San Pierre area where NIPSCO crews were working to correct a gas leak that occurred last night around 8:00 p.m.
According to police, a person was driving his vehicle traveling in the area of State Road 10 and US 421when he left the roadway and struck a telephone pole. The vehicle ran over a NIPSCO gas main causing a gas leak. The vehicle landed on its top. The driver was treated at the scene and eventually taken to IU Health Starke Hospital.
For safety reasons, residents were evacuated from the area. The accident remains under investigation.
The West Central School Board has decided to move forward with the wind turbine project.
“In the contract, there will be contingencies as far as whether or not we do proceed, but one of the largest issues had to deal with the insurance and that has been solved at this point in time,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “The connection point will be in the contract as a contingency and it is also being worked on at this time. This deals with NIPSCO where we want the connection to be prior to the meter so we can use the electricity ourselves that are generating. We are still waiting on the feed-in tariff regulations to be clarified and approved by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.”
Knox residents were without power this morning after a storm blew through the area overnight. At one time, 795 residents were without power in Knox. According to NIPSCO.com, all power has been restored. Power outages were also reported in Pulaski County and in Culver this morning.
While snow plows opened the main roads last week, no one was assigned to open alleyways and back yards for NIPSCO meter readers and other employees working in the field. NIPSCO officials said last week that same residences may receive estimated energy usage this month.
With January, February and March accounting for the largest natural gas bills throughout the year for NIPSCO customers, it is a great opportunity to take advantage of simple tips to help manage bills.
Reporting a non-working street light just became easier, thanks to a new online tool launched by NIPSCO.
Customers noticed a streetlight that is broken or burned out can conveniently visit this website and submit a request to have it fixed. An interactive map identifies all of the street lights owned or maintained by NIPSCO. If a customer does not have the exact pole number, they will still be able to search for the street light by address or location.
Starke United announced this week of a $5,000 grant from NIPSCO to provide funds to cover 2012 campaign marketing expenses. Starke United Executive Director, Edie Hall, said this gift is “thrilling” and indicated that without the funds Starke United would have a much more difficult time paying for the advertising and marketing materials.
NIPSCO has reported that 415 customers are without power in the Wanatah/LaCrosse area. The power reportedly went out around 10:17 a.m. CT. NIPSCO crews are investigating why the outage occurred and will restore power as quickly as possible. LaCrosse Schools will be dismissing at 1:00 p.m CT today (Tuesday, January 4th) and Wanatah schools will dismiss at 1:15 p.m.
