The Northern Indiana Public Service Co. always has had its way with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

When NIPSCO files for a rate increase — be it for electricity or natural gas — the IURC has traditionally rubber-stamped the request, leaving the customers to pick up the increase.

It has been a frustrating time for the ratepayers, particularly after seeing national utility studies that annually rate NIPSCO’s operation among the worst in the country.

Those in NIPSCO’s service territory — virtually all of Northern Indiana — wonder why they continue to pay some of the highest rates in the country for electricity.

And, most recently, NIPSCO customers have wondered why NIPSCO’s projection for natural gas costs this winter are higher than those predicted by other Indiana utilities providing natural gas service.

Take heart, things seem to be changing. No longer, perhaps, does NIPSCO have carte blanche with the IURC.

When the IURC approved a 28 percent hike in natural gas costs in March 2003, LaPorte, Lake and St. Joseph counties banded together and sought refunds for the customers. The IURC agree and told NIPSCO to return $4 million to the ratepayers.

The most recent sign that NIPSCO no longer is a sacred cow came last week when the IURC denied NIPSCO’s appeal of an earlier decision that barred the utility from closing service hubs in Crown Point and Hammond.

The IURC argued that closing the hubs would harm customer service.