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Thiele poised to blast PSEG rate hike

COURTESY PHOTO | Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. is calling for a public protest of PSEG rat hikes.
COURTESY PHOTO | Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. is calling for a public protest over PSEG rate hikes.

As PSEG-LI is set to begin its regional meetings in Riverhead tonight on a requested hike for delivery charges, Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. is calling on  ratepayers to protest a proposed three-year increase projected at 4 percent per year.The delivery charge represents about 50 percent of Long Islander’s bills, Mr. Thiele said. The other half is the fuel supply charge.

In a written statement he plans to submit at tonight’s hearing at the Riverhead Public Library, he reiterated Governor Andrew Cuomo’s statement when he signed the Long Island Power Authority Reform Act in 2013.

“You have to operate the utility better,” Mr. Cuomo said at the time. “LIPA’s answer to everything is more money. We don’t have more money. You can’t keep putting your hand in the pocket of ratepayers. The answer is, use the money you have better,”

Not only does Mr. Thiele oppose the rate increase, but he also said in his prepared statement for tonight’s hearing that an anticipated $400 million LIPA plans to borrow in each of the next four years would create an anticipated debt of at least $8.26 billion by the end of 2018. LIPA debt in 2012 was at $6.9 billion, the legislator said.

“This proposal would saddle Long Island with the highest debt level in the history of LIPA,” Mr. Thiele said. “PSEG-LI would again mortgage Long Island’s future with debt,” he said.

At the same time, PSEG-LI wants to increase rates and debt, but is making no commitment to renewable energy, Mr. Thiele said.

While LIPA last year extended a contract for upstate nuclear power costing $159 million, it reduced its plans to build  280 megawatts of green energy to 122.1 megawatts and rejected a wind energy project offshore of the East End that would have reduced fossil fuel reliance, Mr. Thiele said.

He described the current economic climate on Long Island as “fragile and uncertain,” and said a rate hike would be a “drag” on economic recovery that “will negatively impact Long Island’s ability to compete.”

During an interview last week, PSEG Director of Communications Jeffrey Weir said the requested delivery charge hike would cost the average ratepayer $3.25 per month the first year and an additional $3.30 a month for each of the second and third years.

Low income ratepayers would qualify for subsidies likely to reduce their payments to less than they’re currently paying, Mr. Weir said.

None of the increase would go to PSEG shareholders, Mr. Weir said. Rather it would be used to continue to improve services on Long Island. PSEG works on a contract that has already been negotiated to manage electrical service for LIPA on Long Island and wouldn’t benefit.

That company’s management fee would only increase if PSEG were to assume more responsibilities, Mr. Weir said.

As for green energy on the East End, it’s something the company endorses, but it doesn’t come cheap, he said. If ratepayers want to bear that burden of the expensive infrastructure for wind power, it’s something the utility would consider, he said. The same applies to burying more lines underground.

The utility’s responsibility is to provide reliable power, but not to tackle the expense of burying power lines underground, he said. Parts of the South Fork have buried lines while all of the lines on the North Fork are above ground.

Shelter Island several years ago passed a resolution calling for buried lines, but that wasn’t retroactive to existing lines and exempted lines at the Ram Island Causeways and those to maintain existing overhead distribution lines. A utility can use overhead lines across public roadways where utility poles exist.

The hearing begins at 6:30 tonight at the Riverhead Public Library. The initial part of the session will be a presentation of the utility company’s request and then speakers will be allowed to enter statements into the record, but not to pose questions, according to Mr. Weir.

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