Suffolk Closeup: A powerful mess
The New York State Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority held a series of public hearings in recent months through the LIPA service area. This includes the Rockaways, Queens, and in Nassau County, western Suffolk County and Suffolk’s East End.
With a few exceptions, people speaking at the five hearings strongly supported LIPA becoming what the vision of it was to be when it was established more than three decades ago: a public power utility running the energy grid here with an elected board of trustees that would be deciding this region’s energy future.
As State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (D-Sag Harbor), the commission’s co-chair, declared in an “overview” at the opening of its fifth hearing two weeks ago in Southampton: “When LIPA was created by the State Legislature back in the 1980s it had two purposes. One purpose was to close the Shoreham nuclear power plant, which it did. The second purpose was to replace LILCO with a full public authority. That never happened.” LIPA “did replace” the Long Island Lighting Company, but instead of itself operating the energy system, a “third party-manager” was contracted to do that — KeySpan, National Grid and currently PSEG.
“It’s the only third-party manager [utility] system in the country,” said Thiele. And “based on our experience, there must be a reason for that.”
LIPA was “never given” a chance to be what it was envisioned. He went on: “You know the failures that we’ve seen with the third-party manager system.”
After tropical storm Isaias struck in 2020, not only did many LIPA customers lose power (some for more than a week), but PSEG’s communications systems failed. LIPA customers were unable to find out what was going on and the commission was subsequently set up.
Its task, as the commission says on its website, is to “develop and present to the legislature an action plan for implementing a true public power model for residents of Long Island and the Rockaways. This means LIPA would directly provide electric service to the more than three million residents and thousands of businesses in its service area without contracting out that responsibility to an investor-owned, for-profit utility.”
It continues: “The goal is to avoid the tens of millions of dollars in annual management fees paid for an outside utility; establish greater transparency and clearer lines of accountability for the safe, reliable, and affordable delivery of electricity to ratepayers; and give LIPA’s customers a greater say in how this essential service is provided. The commission is charged with conducting public hearings, forming and collaborating with an advisory committee of resident stakeholders, and ultimately reporting to the legislature on the specific actions, legislation, and timeline necessary to restructure LIPA into a true publicly owned public authority.” It notes that the “commission is bipartisan” and “comprising four senators and four assembly members” from the LIPA service area.
The fault for not allowing elections of LIPA board trustees involves a Democratic governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, and a Republican one, George Pataki. Cuomo put off elections of LIPA trustees and Pataki formalized that with appointment of the nine trustees.
The trustees are named by the governor, the State Senate majority leader and the State Assembly speaker, none of whom are from the LIPA service area, Thiele noted.
As to third-party managers brought in to operate the LIPA grid, there was London, England-based National Grid after it acquired KeySpan in 2006. Its LIPA contract was not renewed after 90% of LIPA customers lost electricity when Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012. Mario Cuomo’s son, Andrew, as governor, then brought in PSEG (Public Service Enterprise Group) based in Newark, N.J.
Testimony of speakers at the five hearings included, in December in Smithtown, that of Billy Roberti, a member of the Huntington Town Advisory Committee on Energy Efficiency, Renewables and Sustainability, who said the present system with PSEG as “a middleman between the customer and LIPA, does not work.” Monique Fitzgerald of North Bellport, climate justice organizer for the Long Island Progressive Coalition, said “PSEG and their shareholders are only here for profits.” At the hearing in Rockaway, also in December, Joan Flynn, representing Rockaway Women for Progress, said with establishment of LIPA “the idea was to create a democratic entity to manage and plan for power on the island and champion safe, clean, renewable energy … It saddens me and makes me angry to think that corporate greed won out over the well-being of the citizens of Long Island and Rockaway. However, this commission gives us the chance to return to the vision of energy democracy.”
One speaker at the hearing in Southampton, Kevin Schrage, an East Moriches electrical contractor, spoke out against election of LIPA trustees and advocated a return to a private model saying “look at the MTA” (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) as an example of government inadequacy. Can the dream of a true and democratic public utility here now be reached? PSEG will be lobbying hard in coming months against this, but it’s more possible now than it has been for years.
