NiSource Announces $57.5 Million in Savings for NIPSCO Customers from Data Centers
Key Facts
NiSource announced on October 28, 2026, that it will provide $57.5 million in savings to existing NIPSCO electricity customers, with the savings stemming from data center development, according to a company statement. The announcement comes as the company expands electricity supply agreements for large loads and says some of the resulting revenue will be returned to existing customers. But the new credit will not begin automatically; it requires regulatory approval. For the average residential customer, the company expects a total credit of about $90. That equates to about $5 a month over 18 months, with the credit beginning about 30 days after approval.
The regulatory approval requirement separates the announced value of the savings from when they will actually appear on bills. NiSource estimates that residential credits will begin accruing about 30 days after approval is issued and continue for 18 months. The average customer could receive about $90 in total, distributed in monthly credits of about $5. NIPSCO Vice President of Operations Vince Parisi said, "Our customers share in the benefits when our region grows." The company links the announcement to rising energy demand from data centers, with some revenue earmarked to return value to its existing customers.
NiSource said the $57.5 million will be added to $1.75 billion in expected customer credits under previous agreements with Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft. The company presents the new amount as an addition to those credits, not as a direct return from the three agreements. Before the Microsoft agreement, the company had estimated savings tied to its data center strategy at about $1.4 billion. After the agreement, total expected savings rose to about $1.75 billion, or up to $140 a year per customer. The company says large customers fund the generation and infrastructure needed to serve them, while some revenue from the contracts is returned to existing NIPSCO customers.
The Microsoft agreement provides additional context on the scale of infrastructure tied to these contracts. The company is expected to begin receiving electricity under the agreement in 2028, as part of a 20-year contract term. NiSource also expects to increase its generation resource portfolio by about 1,100 megawatts to meet the agreement's needs. The arrangement also includes GenCo contracting for 600 megawatts of battery storage under a long-term agreement. NiSource says large-load customers fully fund the generation and infrastructure needed to provide service, under a structure it says protects existing NIPSCO customers from additional costs.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved the settlement agreement, Amazon's special contract and the associated power purchase agreement on June 17, 2026, according to NiSource. At the time, the company said its broader data center strategy was expected to deliver about $1.4 billion in customer savings. The newer savings estimate reflects the addition of the Microsoft agreement, which lifted the expected total to about $1.75 billion. For credits tied to previous agreements, the company expects the first to begin in the first quarter of 2027 and to increase gradually over time. That timing applies to the previous credits, while the $57.5 million credit is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to begin about 30 days after it is granted.
The savings announcement coincided with NiSource's results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026. Net income available to common shareholders was $129.5 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, compared with $94.7 million and $0.20 per share in the same quarter of 2025. The company's shares closed at $43.87 on October 28, according to EL7 data. NiSource serves about 500,000 electricity customers, alongside nearly 3.3 million natural gas customers, across six states through its Columbia Gas and NIPSCO brands. That reach puts the NIPSCO credit in the context of the electricity customer base to which the company aims to return some of the value from its data center business.