Petitioner Exhibit 1

Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 Northern Indiana Public Service Company LLC Pagel VERIFIED DIRECT TESTIMONY OF VIOLET SISTOVARIS IURC PETITIONER'S / 1 Q1. Please state your name, business address and title. EXHIBIT NO. ( ~ 1,,.,;r-a _L 2 Al. My name is Violet Sistovaris. My business addrJ~T1s 801 East 86JEPORTER 3 A venue, Merrillville, Indiana 46410. I currently serve as Executive Vice 4 President of NiSource Inc. ("NiSource") and as President of Northern 5 Indiana Public Service Company LLC ("NIPSCO"). 6 Q2. Please describe your educational background. 7 A2. I earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Valparaiso 8 University and a master's degree in business administration from Indiana 9 University. 10 Q3. Please describe your professional experience. 11 A3. Before joining NiSource Inc. in 1995, I was Vice President, Training & 12 Development at Centier Bank in Merrillville, Indiana. My banking 13 experience centered in the areas of marketing, training and development 14 and sales administration. In 1999, I began serving as Director for 15 NIPSCO's Customer Contact Centers. In November 2003, I served as Vice 16 President, Customer Contact Centers and was responsible for directing Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 Northern Indiana Public Service Company Page2 1 the operation of NiSource's customer contact centers and managing 2 contacts with the 3.7 million residential natural gas and electric customers 3 served by NiSource's energy distribution companies. In addition to these 4 responsibilities, my 20 years of experience at NiSource includes positions 5 in the areas of human resources, college and executive recruiting and 6 management development. I accepted the position of Senior Vice 7 President and Chief Information Officer at NiSource responsible for 8 providing leadership and direction to NiSource' s information technology, 9 supply chain services, real estate and facilities management in August, 10 2008. I accepted the position of Executive Vice President of NIPSCO in 11 July, 2015 and accepted my current position of President of NIPSCO in 12 October, 2016. 13 Q4. What are your responsibilities as President? 14 A4. As President, I am responsible for all operations, regulatory strategy, and 15 customer, community, compliance, and financial functions at NIPSCO and 16 for ensuring safe, reliable and affordable service to NIPSCO's 1.1 million 17 electric and gas customers across the state. Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 Northern Indiana Public Service Company LLC Page 3 1 QS. Have you previously testified before this or any other regulatory 2 commission? 3 AS. Yes. I previously submitted testimony in support of NIPSCO' s most 4 recent gas rate case in Cause No. 44988 and in NIPSCO' s prior electric rate 5 case in Cause No. 44688. 6 Q6. Are you sponsoring any attachments to your testimony in this Cause? 7 A6. Yes. I am sponsoring Attachments 1-A through 1-D, all of which were 8 prepared by me or under my direction and supervision. 9 Q7. What is the purpose of your testimony? 10 A7. The purpose of my testimony is to provide an overview of NIPSCO and 11 its role in northern Indiana, to briefly describe NIPSCO' s electric 12 operations, to describe NiSource including its corporate structure and 13 strategic vision and its commitments to its stakeholders, to explain how 14 the NiSource vision and commitments have been embraced and executed 15 at NIPSCO, to explain NIPSCO's customer service goals, to explain why 16 NIPSCO is filing this case at this time, and to provide a brief overview of 17 NIPSCO' s case-in-chief. Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 Northern Indiana Public Service Company Page4 1 NIPSCO and its Role 2 QB. Please briefly describe NIPSCO. 3 A8. NIPSCO and its predecessor companies have been serving northern 4 Indiana for over 100 years. NIPSCO provides natural gas service to more 5 than 819,000 customers in 32 counties across the northern third of Indiana 6 and electric service to more than 468,000 customers in 20 counties in 7 northwest Indiana. NIPSCO' s nearly 3,000 employees average 13 years of 8 service, and its nearly tl50 electric operational employees average 13.7 9 years of service. 10 Q9. Please provide an overview of NIPSCO's current electric generating 11 operations. 12 A9. NIPSCO generates, transmits and distributes electricity to more than 13 468,000 customers in 20 counties in the northern part of Indiana and 14 engages in wholesale transactions and provides transmission services. 15 NIPSCO operates five coal-fired electric generating units, Michigan City 16 Generating Station (Unit 12) and R.M. Schahfer Generating Station (Units 17 14, 15, 17 and 18), with an installed capacity of 2,094 megawatts ("MW"). 18 NIPSCO also owns and operates Sugar Creek Generating Station, a 19 combined cycle gas turbine plant with a 535 MW capacity rating, three Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 Northern Indiana Public Service Company LLC Pages 1 gas-fired generating units, Bailly (Unit 10) and Schahfer (Units 16A and 2 16B), with an installed capacity of 186 MW, and two hydroelectric 3 generating plants, Norway and Oakdale, with an installed capability of 10 4 MW. These facilities provide for a total installed capacity of 2,825 MW. 5 During the year ended December 31, 2017, NIPSCO generated 68% and 6 purchased 32% of its electric requirements. 7 QlO. Please provide an overview of NIPSCO's current electric transmission 8 operations. 9 AlO. NIPSCO's transmission system, with voltages ranging from 69,000 to 10 765,000 volts, is interconnected with six neighboring electric utilities. 11 NIPSCO participates in transmission service and wholesale energy 12 markets operated by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator 13 ("MISO"). MISO is a nonprofit organization created in compliance with 14 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to improve the flow of 15 electricity in the regional marketplace and to enhance electric reliability. 16 Additionally, it is responsible for managing the energy markets, 17 transmission constraints, the day-ahead, real-time and Financial 18 Transmission Rights markets and the ancillary services market. NIPSCO 19 transferred functional control of its electric transmission assets to MISO in Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 Northern Indiana Public Service Company Page 6 1 2003 and transmission service for NIPSCO occurs under the MISO Open 2 Access Transmission, Energy and Operating Reserve Markets Tariff. 3 Qll. Please describe NIPSCO' s retail customer base. 4 All. Table 1 below summarizes NIPSCO's retail customers by group as of 5 December 31, 2017: 6 Table 1 - 2017 Historic Base Period Customer Data1 Customers Test Year Volumes (MWh) Residential Sales 409,401 3,301,699 Commercial Sales 56,134 3,793,472 Industrial Sales 2,313 9,469,711 Other 742 133,296 TOTAL 468,590 16,698,178 7 8 Q12. What is significant about NIPSCO's customer base? 9 A12. As Table 1 illustrates, while industrial customers make up less than one 10 percent of the total NIPSCO electric customers, they accounted for more 11 than 56 percent of system energy sales during the test year. In fact, our 12 five largest customers reflect 40 percent of NIPSCO' s load, which 13 represents a unique risk profile. NIPSCO' s reliance on industrial sales is 14 higher than most retail electric providers, and makes NIPSCO' s sales more The period beginning January 1, 2017 and ending December 31, 2017. Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 Northern Indiana Public Service Company LLC Page 7 1 susceptible to changes resulting from the business cycle. Because a 2 significant portion of the costs associated with providing electric service 3 are fixed in nature, reductions in sales volume can result in a significant 4 impact to revenues, earnings and other customers' rates. 5 Q13. Please describe NIPSCO' s role in northern Indiana. 6 A13. NIPSCO plays a critical role in northern Indiana. Safe, reliable, and 7 affordable energy is critically important to northern Indiana. NIPSCO is 8 continually focused on improving customer service, enhancing the 9 availability and reliability of electricity and natural gas, and providing an 10 infrastructure to support new jobs and economic growth. NIPSCO 11 remains sensitive to its customers in need, as demonstrated by NIPSCO' s 12 low income program and its work with trustee offices throughout its 13 service territory. Ultimately, NIPSCO's goal and its vision is to be the 14 premier utility in Indiana, and it is part of our mission to engage its 15 customers, employees and community partners to continuously improve 16 and achieve this goal. NIPSCO' s leadership team and other employees 17 serve critical roles in various community organizations. Since its 18 inception, NIPSCO's Charity of Choice effort has provided more than $1 19 million in funds to a variety of community organizations, and its Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 Northern Indiana Public Service Company Page 8 1 Luminary Awards have shone a spotlight on community leaders to 2 promote the importance of leadership in the continued economic viability 3 of northern Indiana. 4 NiSource and its Strategic Vision. 5 Q14. Please describe NiSource and its corporate structure. 6 A14. NiSource is headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana. NiSource and its 7 operating companies employ more than 8,000 employees. More than 8 3,300 of those jobs are located in the State of Indiana, making NiSource 9 among the largest employers in Indiana. In addition to NIPSCO, 10 NiSource includes six operating companies: Columbia Gas of 11 Massachusetts, Columbia Gas of Kentucky, Columbia Gas of Maryland, 12 Columbia Gas of Ohio, Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, and Columbia Gas 13 of Virginia. Together the NiSource operating companies serve nearly 4 14 million natural gas and electric customers in seven states under the 15 NIPSCO and Columbia Gas brands.

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