Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) last month released all of its electrical linemen contractors and three-fourths of its tree-trimming contractors to help utilities in the Gulf region restore power following Hurricane Katrina.

NIPSCO also informed the Great Lakes Mutual Assistance Group – a consortium of utilities throughout the Midwest – that its crews were available to help member utilities should they need arise. NIPSCO routinely shares resources with other utilities during time of natural disasters through mutual aid agreements facilitated by the Great Lakes Mutual Assistance Group.

“This is the right thing to do and our contractors were eager to get down to the Gulf to help restore power,” said Tim Dehring, NIPSCO general manager of operations. “We decided it would be best to keep our crews here in the Midwest where they may be needed as some of our larger neighboring utilities, who have sent crews the Gulf, may need NIPSCO’s assistance.”

In addition, the NiSource Charitable Foundation contributed $25,000 on behalf of NiSource employees to the Red Cross for hurricane relief. NiSource's Pipeline companies, which have operations and employees in areas affected by the hurricane, also planned to contribute at least $10,000.