NLMK Indiana (Portage)
Large load · 6500 S. BOUNDARY ROAD, Portage, IN
NLMK Indiana, on South Boundary Road in Portage at the Port of Indiana, is NLMK USA's electric arc furnace mill. It melts scrap in a 118-ton EAF, casts slabs and rolls them into hot-rolled and pickled-and-oiled coil. The mill takes power from NIPSCO's high-voltage system and has intervened in NIPSCO rate cases as one of its largest industrial customers. It expected to buy firm Tier 1 service under NIPSCO's Rate 831, with load above that firm block treated as curtailable, market-priced service. NLMK has not published the mill's MW demand.
Overview
NLMK told the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission in 2019 that it takes power from NIPSCO's high-voltage facilities and uses millions of kWh a month. In Cause 45159 NIPSCO proposed Rate 831 for its largest industrial loads, and NLMK joined U.S. Steel and the NIPSCO Industrial Group in supporting the implementation agreement. Under Rate 831, customers commit to a firm Tier 1 block for up to five years, at least 10 MW each. Load above that is non-firm curtailable Tier 2 or 3 service priced at MISO day-ahead LMP, which NIPSCO registers as a MISO load modifying resource. NLMK testified that it fully expected to subscribe to Tier 1. The IURC approved modifications to Rate 831/531 in NIPSCO's 2023 rate case (Cause 45772), where NLMK was a settling party.
Profile
- Interruptible service history
- Before Rate 831, NIPSCO's large non-firm industrial loads took service under Rider 775. In exchange for demand credits, they accepted economic interruptions, with an option to buy through at market price, as well as reliability curtailments. NLMK argued that continuing the Rider 775 options would be essential if the existing industrial rates stayed in place, while agreeing that Rate 831 was a more sustainable structure for keeping large loads on the system.
- Melt shop modernization
- NLMK Indiana's 118-ton EAF was modernized with Primetals Technologies: a six-week shutdown to first heat, then more than 20 heats a day within four days. The work added a single-point roof-lifting system and an integrated gantry, and earned AIST's Gold Reliability Achievement Award in 2026. NLMK USA, which also runs mills in Pennsylvania, says it makes 2.7 million tons of steel a year. The furnace's tonnage is equipment size, not site load.
Facility
- Activity
- Electric arc furnace steel slab and hot-rolled coil, including hot-rolled pickled and oiled
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Site type
- Facility
- Operating status
- Operating
Related records
Timeline
- May 17, 2019
- NLMK files testimony on NIPSCO's proposed Rate 831, expecting to take firm Tier 1 service
iurc.portal.in.gov
- Aug 2, 2023
- IURC approves the NIPSCO rate case settlement and Rate 831/531 modifications
iurc.portal.in.gov
- Apr 22, 2026
- NLMK Indiana's EAF modernization wins AIST's Gold Reliability Achievement Award
NLMK Indiana Receives Award for EAF Upgrade with Primetals Technologies