NISOURCE INC

Cost Recovery and Trackers

Comparability of our line item operating results is impacted by regulatory trackers that allow for the recovery in rates of certain costs such as those described below. Increases in the costs that are subject to approved regulatory tracker mechanisms generally lead to increased regulatory assets, which ultimately result in a corresponding increases in operating revenues and expenses and, therefore, have essentially no impact on total operating income results. Certain approved regulatory tracker mechanisms allow for abbreviated regulatory proceedings in order for the operating companies to quickly implement revised rates and recover associated costs.

A portion of the Columbia Operations and NIPSCO Operations revenue is related to the recovery of gas costs, the review and recovery of which occurs through standard regulatory proceedings. All states in our operating area require periodic review of actual gas procurement activity to determine prudence and to confirm the recovery of prudently incurred energy commodity costs supplied to customers.

We recognize that energy efficiency reduces emissions, conserves natural resources and saves our customers money. Our gas distribution companies offer programs such as energy efficiency upgrades, home checkups and weatherization services. The increased efficiency of natural gas appliances and improvements in home building codes and standards contributes to a long-term trend of declining average use per customer. While we are looking to expand offerings so the energy efficiency programs can benefit as many customers as possible, our Columbia Operations and NIPSCO Operations have pursued changes in rate design to more effectively match recoveries with costs incurred. Columbia of Ohio has adopted a straight fixed variable rate design for residential customers that closely links the recovery of fixed costs with fixed charges. Columbia of Maryland and Columbia of Virginia have regulatory approval for weather and revenue normalization adjustments for certain customer classes, which adjust monthly revenues that exceed or fall short of approved levels. Columbia of Pennsylvania continues to operate its pilot residential weather normalization adjustment and also has a fixed customer charge. This weather normalization adjustment only adjusts revenues when actual weather compared to normal varies by more than 3% during the winter heating season. Columbia of Kentucky incorporates a weather normalization adjustment for certain customer classes and also has a fixed customer charge.

A portion of the NIPSCO Operations revenue is related to the recovery of fuel costs to generate power and the fuel costs related to purchased power. These costs are recovered through a FAC, which is updated quarterly to reflect actual costs incurred to supply electricity to customers.

While increased efficiency of electric appliances and improvements in home building codes and standards has impacted the average use per electric customer in recent years, NIPSCO Operations expects future growth in residential and commercial customer usage as a result of increasing electric applications, such as electric vehicles becoming more prevalent. These ongoing changes in use of electricity will likely lead to development of innovative rate designs, and NIPSCO Operations will continue efforts to design rates that increase the certainty of recovery of fixed costs.

Rate Case Actions

The following table describes current rate case actions as applicable in each of our jurisdictions net of tracker impacts:

(1)No approved ROE is identified for this matter since the approved revenue increase is the result of a black box settlement under which parties agree upon the amount of increase.

(2)The approved ROE for natural gas capital riders (e.g., SMRP) is 9.275%.

(3)Columbia of Virginia's rate case resulted in a black box settlement, representing a settlement to a specific revenue increase but not a specified ROE. The settlement provides use of a 9.70% ROE for future SAVE and filings.

(4)New rates will be implemented in 2 steps, with implementation of Step 1 rates to be effective no later than September 2024 and Step 2 rates no later than March 2025.

(5)New rates were implemented in 2 steps, with implementation of Step 1 rates in August 2023 and Step 2 rates effective in March 2024.

(6)Rates to be effective on an interim basis and subject to refund.

PHMSA Regulations

We are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our business and promoting sustained environmental stewardship. We seek proactive opportunities for improved environmental performance and are committed to complying with environmental laws and regulations. To fulfill our vision of being a trusted energy provider, we follow safety practices recommended by leading industry organizations. These practices help us identify and address potential risks, resulting in improvements to our operational and environmental safety.

PHMSA Legislation and Regulations

Under the Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act of 2020, PHMSA has revised, and continues to revise, the pipeline safety regulations to require operators to update, as needed, their existing distribution integrity management plans, emergency response plans, and operation and maintenance plans. PHMSA has also adopted new requirements for managing records and updating, as necessary, existing district regulator stations to eliminate common modes of failure that can lead to over-pressurization.

In May 2023, PHMSA proposed numerous regulatory revisions under the PIPES Act of 2020 to minimize methane emissions and improve public safety. Under these proposed revisions, our subsidiaries would be required to detect and repair an increased number of gas leaks, reduce the time to repair leaks, increase leak survey frequency, and expand our existing advanced leak detection program. We continue to evaluate the proposed rule for additional impacts on our business.

In September 2023, PHMSA proposed additional regulatory revisions under the PIPES Act of 2020 to enhance distribution system safety through equipment and procedural expectations. Operators will be required to incorporate additional protections for low pressure distribution systems that prevent over-pressurization, amend construction procedures designed to minimize the risk of incidents caused by system over-pressurization, and update distribution integrity management programs to cover and prepare for over-pressurization incidents.

On November 30, 2023, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee introduced new pipeline safety reauthorization legislation known as the PIPES Act of 2023 to reauthorize PHMSA’s safety programs for the next four years. The proposed legislation includes several priorities for our company, including excavation damage prevention grants to improve states’

damage prevention programs, a PHMSA study on blending hydrogen in distribution pipelines, new criminal penalties for intentionally damaging pipeline facilities, and creation of a Voluntary Information Sharing System to allow for industry participants to share learnings and best practices in a protected manner across the pipeline industry.

Climate Change Issues

Physical Climate Risks. Increased frequency of severe and extreme weather events associated with climate change could materially impact our facilities, energy sales, and results of operations. We are unable to predict these events. However, we perform ongoing assessments of physical risk, including physical climate risk, to our business. More extreme and volatile temperatures, increased storm intensity and flooding, and more volatile precipitation leading to changes in lake and river levels are among the weather events that are most likely to impact our business. Efforts to mitigate these physical risks continue to be implemented on an ongoing basis.

Transition Climate Risks. We actively engage with and monitor the impact that proposed legislative and regulatory programs related to GHG emissions, at both the federal and state levels, would have on our business.

Regarding federal policies, we continue to monitor the implementation of any final and proposed climate change-related legislation and regulations, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ("IIJA"), IRA, EPA's final methane regulations for the oil and natural gas industry, and EPA's proposed Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems. We have identified potential opportunities associated with the IIJA and the IRA and are evaluating how they may align with our strategy going forward. The energy-related provisions of the IIJA include new federal funding for power grid infrastructure and resiliency investments, new and existing energy efficiency and weatherization programs, electric vehicle infrastructure for public chargers and additional LIHEAP funding. The IRA contains climate and energy provisions, including funding to decarbonize the electric sector.

The United States is a party to the Paris Agreement, an international treaty through which parties set nationally determined contributions to reduce GHG emissions, build resilience, and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The Biden Administration has set a target for the United States to achieve a 50%-52% GHG reduction from 2005 levels by 2030, which supports the President's goals to create a carbon-free power sector by 2035 and net zero emissions economy no later than 2050. There are many potential pathways to reach these goals.

In December 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE") amended the congressionally-mandated efficiency standards for residential home furnaces manufactured after December 2028. We are assessing the potential impacts associated with these new standards.

The DOE has selected two hydrogen hubs in our territories as recipients of funding designated in the IIJA to support the development of regional clean hydrogen hubs. The two hubs are the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen Hub (MachH2), with potential projects across Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin; and the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), with potential investments across West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. Work is underway to determine what roles our companies may have with these hydrogen hubs.

In May 2024, the EPA published final greenhouse gas standards and guidelines for fossil fuel-fired power plants. The rules are not expected to impact NIPSCO’s existing electric generation, but, depending on the outcome of ongoing litigation, may impose certain operational limitations on other existing and new electric generation. We are assessing the potential impacts of these rules through the current 2024 Plan process.

We also continue to monitor the implementation of any final and proposed state policy. The Virginia Energy Innovation Act, enacted into law in April 2022, and effective July 1, 2022, allows natural gas utilities to supply alternative forms of gas that meet certain standards and reduce emissions intensity. The Act also provides that the costs of enhanced leak detection and repair may be added to a utility’s plan to identify proposed eligible infrastructure replacement projects and related cost recovery mechanisms, known as the SAVE Plan. Furthermore, under the Act, utilities can recover eligible biogas supply infrastructure costs on an ongoing basis. The provisions of these laws may provide opportunities for Columbia of Virginia as it participates in the transition to a lower carbon future.

The Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 requires Maryland to reduce GHG emissions by 60% by 2031 (from 2006 levels), and it requires the state to reach net zero emissions by 2045. The Maryland Department of the Environment ("MDE") adopted a plan to achieve its 2031 goal and is required to adopt a plan for its 2045 net zero goal by 2030. In June 2024, Governor Moore signed an executive order to advance Maryland’s Pollution Reduction Plan, which directs the MDE to propose a zero-emission heating equipment standard regulation and a clean heat standard regulation. The Act also enacts a state policy to move to broader electrification of both existing buildings and new construction, and requires the Public Service Commission ("PSC") to complete a study assessing the capacity of gas and electric distribution systems to successfully serve customers under a transition to a highly electrified building sector. The PSC released their report on December 29, 2023, and concluded that high levels of electrification can be handled by Maryland's electric systems through 2031. The Maryland Department of the Environment issued draft proposed Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS), which would require net zero direct greenhouse gas emissions from large buildings by 2040 with interim targets, or an alternative compliance fee. Columbia of Maryland is advocating for compliance pathways that use RNG, hydrogen, and emissions offsets. Separately, the PSC has also initiated a proceeding related to Near-Term, Priority Actions and Comprehensive, Long-Term Planning for Maryland's Gas Companies. Columbia of Maryland will continue to monitor these matters, but we cannot predict their final impact on our business at this time.

NIPSCO Gas, Columbia of Maryland, Columbia of Pennsylvania, Columbia of Virginia and Columbia of Kentucky have each filed petitions to implement the Green Path Rider, which is a voluntary rider allowing customers to opt in and offset either 50% or 100% of their natural gas related emissions. To reduce the emissions, the utilities will purchase RNG attributes and carbon offsets to match the usage for customers opting into the program. After reaching settlement with other parties in September 2022, NIPSCO agreed to add a third tier to offset 25% of customer usage. The program was approved by the IURC at NIPSCO in November 2022 with a January 2023 start date. Columbia of Virginia received a final order in May 2023, approving the Green Path Rider and began enrolling customers in September 2023. The petitions filed by Columbia of Maryland, Columbia of Pennsylvania, and Columbia of Kentucky were rejected and have not been implemented as of June 30, 2024. Additionally, NIPSCO Electric has a voluntary Green Power Rider program in place that allows customers to designate a portion or all their monthly electric usage to come from power generated by renewable energy sources.

Net Zero Goal. In November 2022, we announced a goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 covering both Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions ("Net Zero Goal"). Our Net Zero Goal builds on greenhouse gas emission reductions achieved to-date and demonstrates that continued execution of our long-term business plan will drive further greenhouse gas emission reductions. We remain on track to achieve previously announced interim greenhouse gas emission reduction targets by reducing fugitive methane emissions from main and service lines by 50% from 2005 levels by 2025 and reducing Scope 1 GHG emissions from company-wide operations by 90% from 2005 levels by 2030. We plan to achieve our Net Zero Goal primarily through continuation and enhancement of existing programs, such as retiring and replacing coal-fired electric generation with low- or zero-emission electric generation, ongoing pipe replacement and modernization programs, and deployment of advanced leak-detection technologies. In addition, we plan to advance other low- and zero-emission energy resources and technologies, which may include hydrogen, renewable natural gas, long-duration storage, and/or deployment of carbon capture and utilization technologies, if and when these become technologically and economically feasible. Carbon offsets and renewable energy credits may also be used to support achievement of our Net Zero Goal. As of the end of 2023, we had reduced Scope 1 GHG emissions by approximately 72% from 2005 levels.

Our greenhouse gas emissions projections, including achieving a Net Zero Goal, are subject to various assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. Achievement of our Net Zero Goal by 2040 will require supportive regulatory and legislative policies, favorable stakeholder environments and advancement of technologies that are not currently economical to deploy. Should such regulatory and legislative policies, stakeholder environments or technologies fail to materialize, our actual results or ability to achieve our Net Zero Goal, including by 2040, may differ materially.