NIPSCO

NIPSCO says its gas customers can expect to pay 15 percent more on their heating bills this winter, after the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved a two-step rate increase over the summer.

NIPSCO customers could see a 22-percent increase to their electric bills in the coming years.

Weekday closures start Tuesday on 91st Street and 93rd Avenue.

A gas leak in Portage led to the closure of I-94 for much of Tuesday afternoon.

In a Facebook video Tuesday, longtime East Chicago public works employee Eddie Reyes said the damage is the worst he's ever seen. "Like a war zone," Reyes said. "There's branches everywhere. Every block had branches on the ground. Nobody was excluded."

The board of works Friday agreed to let NIPSCO close Campbell between Burlington Beach and Bullseye Lake roads to replace utility poles.

The president of NIPSCO is stepping down. Mike Hooper is leaving the company after 13 years this Friday for a job in Wisconsin. Parent company NiSource says Vince Parisi, the president and CEO of another of its subsidiaries, Columbia Gas of Ohio, will also lead NIPSCO on an interim basis.

NIPSCO customers will soon be getting new electric meters. The utility says the rollout will begin in March with residential customers in Highland and continue in phases over the next three years throughout NIPSCO's service area.

BP's Whiting refinery is back up and running, after a power outage prompted an evacuation Thursday.

NIPSCO is offering help to low-income customers, seniors military personnel and veterans struggling to pay the higher utility bills to keep their homes warm this winter. NWI financial advisor Greg Hammer will share tips to help set financial resolutions for the new year. Lake County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter outlines his Gun Safety Lock initiative.