The Region is an ever-evolving development space—new businesses are being recruited, established businesses are expanding, and new residential projects are underway. Because of the demands any major investment is going to require, utility companies like NIPSCO that can provide efficient, reliable energy are critical to development in Northern Indiana.
NIPSCO, a subsidiary of NiSource, is one of Indiana’s largest electric and natural gas companies that works closely with municipal and economic leaders to ensure that businesses want to settle in the Region.
“ As a utility, we are critical to any type of major investment,” said NIPSCO Director of Public Affairs and Economic Development Rick Calinski. “Our ability to provide reliable electric and natural gas to a large manufacturer, or any type of large building or service, is critical. As a result, we often find ourselves working with local municipal leaders, county leaders, and even state leaders.”
Part of NIPSCO’s role in bringing businesses to the Region is making sure it can perform its job of providing power to the best of its ability. To accomplish this, NIPSCO invests in modernizing and expanding its infrastructure. Since 2016, the company has put over $2.7 billion towards this purpose.
“Energy infrastructure has a useful life, and what we continue to do is make sure that we're maintaining our infrastructure, constantly checking its integrity, and finding areas that we want to continue to upgrade,” said Calinski. “We do this for many reasons, and one is to safely continue to service our customers and look for new technologies that allow us to better serve our customers reliably and efficiently.”
These upgrades can be similar to the installment of a 24-inch natural gas high-pressure pipeline in Northern Lake and Porter counties to support manufacturers in the Region or the transition from steel gas pipes to plastic ones in the Gary area that are more resistant to corrosion and the effects of time. Both major projects help NIPSCO provide customers the safe and reliable energy they need to be successful, and the improvements never stop.
“We've replaced hundreds of miles of underground electric cable,” said Calinski. “When that electric cable was put in back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the technology wasn’t what it is today. Much of that cable has been nearing the end of its useful life, and could interrupt customers by underground faults. We've replaced a lot of it and we're continuing to replace that underground cable with better technology—more reliable jacketed cable—this will minimize interruptions for customers in the future.”
Another way NIPSCO encourages businesses to establish themselves in Northern Indiana is by offering potential businesses economic development riders (EDR).
“An EDR is a potential three-year discount on an electric bill for customers that are looking to locate in Indiana or expand in Indiana,” said NIPSCO Economic Development Manager Cindy Admave. “Other qualifications are that the project needs to bring at least 10 new jobs, and the project needs to use at least 250kW of electric power.”
One recent customer, United States Cold Storage, was convinced to begin the development of a large refrigerated warehouse along Interstate 65 and Route 2 thanks to the EDR and NIPSCO’s demonstrated reliability.
“For Cold Storage, it is critical that electric companies have the ability to provide reliable power to its facilities. They can't have any power interruptions,” said Admave. “We worked with them to demonstrate the reliability of our electric service, and we were able to provide them with some estimates and also an EDR. It all added to the entire incentive package for the company, and they decided to locate in Indiana.”
United States Cold Storage isn’t the only business setting roots or branching out in Indiana.
“The business climate is really strong right now,” Admave said. “We're seeing a lot of projects interested in Northwest Indiana and Northern Indiana, and I expect to see continued growth.”
Another recent NIPSCO project that will result in a lot of economic growth for the Region is the Stellantis joint venture with Samsung SDI to create the StarPlus Energy Gigafactory in Kokomo, Ind. NIPSCO contributed to the project by installing over 18 miles of natural gas pipeline. The battery manufacturing plant, once completed, will create over 1,000 new jobs.
“This is a huge project for Indiana. It's a $3.1 billion investment, and it's going to create 1,300 jobs in the first phase of development,” said Admave. “A second phase was just announced in October which should double those numbers. We're going to see a lot of investment and a lot of jobs created from that.”
Most importantly, all of NIPSCO’s economic development endeavors go toward improving life in the Region for everyone in the company’s service area.
“We're lucky that we have leadership that believes in not only serving reliable energy to our community but really being an integral part of the community we're privileged to serve,” said Calinski. “We have a lot of different programs that we use to support and be a part of strong community initiatives.”
Some of these programs include NIPSCO’s Charity of Choice program—which allowed employees to volunteer at 18 non-profit organizations this year—and Toys for Tots drives that endeavor to make sure every child has a gift for the holidays. Other initiatives encourage customers both business and residential to be more efficient with their energy use.
“NIPSCO has energy efficiency programs for both residential customers and businesses that offer rebates on high-efficiency equipment like furnaces, air conditioning units, boilers, or other equipment that businesses or homeowners might use,” Admave said. “These are a really nice programs that both residential customers and business customers can use to receive rebates when purchasing high-efficiency equipment.”
Customers interested in learning more about qualifying for a rebate when purchasing high-efficiency equipment can visit www.nipsco.com/energy-efficiency/for-your-home/rebates for more information.
“I would welcome any and all consumers to visit that web page and really see if they are being as energy efficient as they can, and then make sure they’re taking advantage of those rebate programs that we have because it's a great way to invest and save yourself a few bucks too,” said Calinski.
NIPSCO, a subsidiary of NiSource, is one of the largest natural gas and electric providers in Indiana. To learn more about its services, programs, or projects, visit www.nipsco.com.