NIPSCO reaffirmed its commitment to pipeline safety in response to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s (IURC) decision Wednesday regarding Notices of Probable Violations recently issued to the company.
The notices, which were issued by the Commission’s Pipeline Safety Division at the end of 2016, were centered on the timeliness and accuracy of locates for underground utilities provided by the company between mid-2015 and early 2016.
“Ensuring the safety of the public, our natural gas system and our employees is the most important responsibility we have,” said NIPSCO Executive Vice President & President Violet Sistovaris. “And, we’re committed to making improvements in the areas identified by the Commission.”
Among the steps to address the IURC findings, NIPSCO will pay a fine, expedite efforts to improve the accuracy of its maps and records, adopt a new pipeline safety management system and increase the frequency and dialogue with the IURC’s Pipeline Safety Division to further improve safety efforts.
NIPSCO also recently terminated the contract with its existing contracted utility locating company and engaged new companies with additional oversight in an effort to improve the timeliness and accuracy of locate requests.
About NIPSCO: Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), with headquarters in Merrillville, Indiana, has proudly served the energy needs of northern Indiana for more than 100 years. As Indiana’s largest natural gas distribution company and the second-largest electricity distribution company, NIPSCO serves approximately 810,000 natural gas and 460,000 electricity customers across 32 counties. NIPSCO is part of NiSource’s (NYSE: NI) seven regulated utility companies. NiSource is one of the largest fully regulated utility companies in the United States, serving approximately 4 million natural gas and electricity customers through its local Columbia Gas and NIPSCO brands. More information about NIPSCO and NiSource is available at NIPSCO.com and Nisource.com.
