Homeowner frustrated with Citizens Energy after repetitive flooding

INDIANAPOLIS – One near northwest side homeowner is fed up with Citizens Energy Group after
she has seen flood after flood in her basement with no long-term solution.

Brazill Young has lived in her home for less than a year. Ever since moving in, she’s had a plethora of plumbing problems, costing her thousands of dollars in repairs. Young said she’s had about half a dozen plumbers come by to evaluate the repetitive flooding.

“As a first-time homeowner, you’re going to run through problems, and that’s why I have money set aside,” she said. “But to go through all of the emergency money just for plumbing, that’s not even my fault, it’s really driving me crazy.”

Young said the smell is undeniable and there are dead flies all around as her basement continues to flood despite the plumber’s attempts to resolve the issue.

“The statements from the plumbers said that it’s clearly nothing I can do on my end,” she said.

Invoices from the different plumbers state that this is caused by the main sewer line backing up and that Citizens Energy will determine if they’re responsible for addressing it.

”It will require them to get some machines and to dig,” said Young. “Whatever machines you need to get. I think you need to be getting them because this has been going on since January. It’s only right to be fair, to do your job.”

After months of living in damp conditions, her children’s health is now a major concern of hers.

“I’ve exhausted all resources trying to get this fixed,” she said. “Of course, even with me getting it fixed, it’s not going to do anything because I need Citizens to take accountability and do what they need to do.”

Citizens Energy was unable to do an interview, but provided the following statement for context on the situation:

“Citizens Energy Group crews have responded to several calls for inspection at this location, including on 1/30/25, 2/3/25, 2/7/25, and most recently on 9/20/25. In each of these cases, the Citizens infrastructure was found to be functional, leading crews to believe the cause of any back-ups are a private sewer issue. We believe that a contractor for the customer did work on the homeowner’s private infrastructure in February, though we are unable to confirm this, as no permit application was submitted.

In September, Citizens received another call about a back-up at the address and assigned a contractor to do an inspection. Under the criteria of our lateral repair program, Citizens recently agreed to repair the customer’s lateral only within our easement; this repair is planned for tomorrow (Tuesday). We have continued to communicate to the resident that anything outside the easement limits is the full responsibility of the customer.”