HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) — The city's mayor is calling on other Lake County communities to join it in fighting an electric rate increase sought by Northern Indiana Public Service Co. at a time when local governments already are strapped for cash.

The Merrillville-based utility has filed a petition with state regulators signaling its intent to file a rate case without saying how much it would seek, but Mayor Thomas McDermott on Tuesday indicated the increase might be substantial.

"With all the cuts governments across Indiana are facing, I find it unbelievable a utility could ask for a 20 percent rate increase," McDermott said.

NIPSCO spokesman Nick Meyer said the company has not released details about the rate increase it will seek from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. NIPSCO is due to file that information in August.

"I'm not certain of where he's pulling that from," Meyer said of McDermott's figure.

Another northern Indiana utility, Indiana Michigan Power, currently has a rate case before the IURC in which it is seeking a 14 percent overall increase in rates.

NIPSCO, with about 450,000 electric customers across much of the northern third of Indiana, has not filed a full rate case since 1987.

Communities such as Hammond are able to present evidence and testify at rate case hearings if they file as interveners in the case. Hammond's city government is doing so this week, McDermott said.

LaPorte County also is filing as an intervener in the rate case. LaPorte County has fought several battles with NIPSCO, including a fight to keep maintenance hubs open and challenging the price the utility charges for power it buys from other utilities.

McDermott said such fights are why Hammond still has a NIPSCO maintenance hub within the city limits.

He said NIPSCO has been a key instigator of cuts at the local government level, due to its sponsorship of the Good Government Initiative study of Lake County's government units.

"Why aren't we asking the same questions of this utility monopoly as we are asking of Hammond, Gary, East Chicago and Lake County?" McDermott said.

The IURC will set a hearing schedule once it receives NIPSCO's rate case filing in August. The public will be able to comment in writing to the agency. The IURC also may schedule field hearings to take public comment.

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Information from: The Times, http://nwitimes.com