Indiana’s utility commission exceeded its authority when it ordered NIPSCO to keep two service hubs in Lake County open, the utility says.

The Northern Indiana Public Service Co. is asking the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to reconsider its Aug. 10 order, which told NIPSCO to keep its Hammond and Crown Point operating headquarters open.

It also is appealing the IURC’s requirement that NIPSCO file annual service-interruption reports for the next three years.

NIPSCO’s appeal contends that the Aug. 10 order is the first time the IURC has tried to control a utility that is not having operation or management difficulties.

The order “is telling NIPSCO that it cannot manage its work force and operations ... in a manner that is responsive to change,” NIPSCO says.

NIPSCO has been trying consolidate its Northwest Indiana service hubs for several years, but a coalition of employee unions and government bodies in Lake and LaPorte counties have opposed the plan.

The original plan included closing hubs in Michigan City, LaPorte and Plymouth, but those cities reached compromise agreements with NIPSCO in 2003.

The IURC has been considering the case since 2002.

If NIPSCO doesn’t win its appeal to the IURC, it can go to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

LaPorte County attorney Shaw Friedman said Thursday that the plan’s opponents will “vigorously oppose” NIPSCO’s IURC appeal.

“Clearly, NIPSCO is concerned about the fact that this commission has made some history,” Friedman said, “in determining that it will act before service and lives are in jeopardy, and make sure service is maintained.”

NIPSCO has said it needs to consolidate service hubs to save money. It says service employees can respond to after-hours calls more quickly and efficiently by taking their trucks home and answering calls from there — a service model that has been used for years in NIPSCO’s rural territories.

NIPSCO also said it successfully combined its Warsaw and Goshen operating headquarters into one before proposing consolidations in LaPorte and Lake counties.

Opponents say the closings would decrease service reliability, particularly in heavily populated areas.

“This has always been about public safety,” said David Chlebek, vice president of United Steelworkers union Local 12775, representing NIPSCO production workers. That local and Local 13796, which represents clerical workers, have opposed the cuts.

The Crown Point service hub, which NIPSCO wants to consolidate into one in Gary, serves an area that extends into Newton and Jasper counties, Chlebek said.

“South Lake County is one of the hottest growth areas in the country,” Chlebek said. “Why would you want to take away a facility that also helps contractors?”

NIPSCO’s appeal notes that the IURC ruling came around the time the state’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles was closing license branches in Chesterton and Lowell and downsizing Gary’s.

“The parallels between the consolidation of license branches and NIPSCO’s attempts to consolidate Operations Centers are striking,” the utility’s appeal says.

“From NIPSCO’s perspective, it is perfectly understandable that the State would want to explore new ways of saving money, while continuing to provide adequate service to the public. NIPSCO wants a similar opportunity.”