Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. today announced that several pieces of his legislation aimed at increasing transparency, accountability, and oversight over LIPA and its service provider, PSEG-LI, have passed through the both houses of the State Legislature. These bills are awaiting delivery to the Governor for final consideration:

Public Utility Compensation Statements

Thiele introduced A.4403 (same-as S.1544-A Kaminsky), which would allow the public to review executive compensation of public utilities. Ratepayers finance utility companies and it is only fair for them to

know how their money is being spent, including how much is being used to compensate the utility’s executives. Such information should be subject to public review. Further, public oversight of salaries will only assist in developing a more transparent and objective process for setting executive compensation through the rate-making process. The concept of requiring utilities to provide this information is even more necessary for PSEG-LI since it acts as a contractor for a public authority (LIPA) and LIPA's salaries are already something disclosed to the public. During an August 2020 joint legislative hearing, PSEG-LI refused to disclose its executive compensation information. This bill will improve the state's oversight of utilities by requiring large utility companies and service providers, like PSEG-LI, to report how much they compensate their executives on an annual basis. This information will also be made publicly available on the Department of Public Service's website.

LIPA Expenditure and Lobbying Report

Assembly bill 4635 (same-as S.1311-A Gaughran) would require the Long Island Power Authority and its service providers to report to the Governor and Legislature on a semi-annual basis, a detailed description of all expenses of the Authority which are related to advertising and lobbying.The Long Island Power Authority currently engages in both lobbying and advertising campaigns. Questions have arisen as to whether all lobbying

activities of the authority have been properly accounted for and reported. The ratepayers who fund the Authority deserve to have a clear picture of exactly how and why funding is expended. This legislation is

meant to clarify for ratepayers the amount of money that the Authority is expending, and the purpose for such expenditures. Upon receipt of this detailed expenditure report, the Legislature can examine the appropriateness of the utilization of funds by the authority for such purposes.

Community Choice Aggregation (CCA)

Thiele carried legislation with Senator Todd Kaminsky to facilitate the development of CCA programs in the LIPA service territory (A.6890/S.6189). In 2016, the Public Service Commission (PSC) authorized CCA programs in New York State. However, the initial order by the PSC authorizing the CCA program did not fully account for the complexities of LIPA’s service territory and rate structure. CCA programs are important to our energy sector since they empower local communities to have a say in their source of energy and their energy mix. CCA programs accomplish this by allowing local municipalities and their residents to pool their resources together to purchase electricity from an alternative provider, allowing for easier access to green – and often cheaper – energy options. On Long Island, the Towns of Southampton, East Hampton, Brookhaven, and Hempstead have led the way by passing the local law necessary to authorize a CCA program within their municipalities. These municipalities should be allowed to proceed.

LIPA Annual Stress Test

A.7236-A (same-as S.6426-A Gaughran) would require service providers of the Long Island Power Authority to successfully complete an annual stress test of all outage management and communications systems. This measure was introduced following tropical storm Isais, when an all-too-familiar breakdown in communication by PSEG resulted in more than 420,000 customers on Long Island losing power Aug. 4, 2020, many for several days. The failure of PSEG's outage management and communications systems lead to prolonged outages, confusion, and misuse of resources. The failure of these systems was avoidable. Proper oversight by the Long Island Power Authority would have revealed the failures of PSEG's system prior

to the storm. As a result, the Long Island Power Authority required that their service provider undertake an immediate stress test of its systems.Astoundingly, to date, the stress test has still not been successfully completed. This leaves Long Islanders susceptible to another storm, as hurricane season again approaches. This bill would require that all contracts entered in to by LIPA with any service provider contain a component requiring regular stress testing of all outage management and communications systems.Penalties will be

assessed in the event that the service providers fail to meet its contractual duties, which will be disbursed to ratepayers in the LIPA service territory as a rebate.

LIPA Bonding Authority

Assembly bill 7362-B (same-as S.6455-C Kaminsky) would permit the issuance by the Utility Debt Securitization Authority (UDSA) of additional securitized restructuring to fund costs of improvements to the LIPA transmission and distribution system. Due to an increase in extreme weather events caused by climate change, energy providers need to take proactive steps to reduce vulnerabilities in our energy system's infrastructure. Such actions are crucial to ensure people have reliable access to electricity, even during storms,

which has not been this case recently as seen by problems occurring during Tropical Storm Isaias. Upgrades must be made to harden and protect this essential infrastructure from rising flood levels, increased wind speeds, and unpredictable storms. This bill will allow the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) to take advantage of the current low cost of borrowing; in order to finance system resilience upgrades and improvements. With interest rates low, this measure would save ratepayers over six hundred million dollars over a twenty-year period by

making these investments now and in a fiscally responsible manner.

Assemblyman Thiele stated, “PSEG-LI is a contractor for a public authority (LIPA) that has as its mission the supplying of a most basic societal need: electricity. Its revenue is generated by the payment of the monthly electric bill of every Long Island resident and business. As was the case last year with Tropical Storm Isais, we have seen time and time again the breakdown in communication and the failure of the utility to function as it should and supply all Long Islanders with power. I am proud to sponsor these bills with my Senate colleagues to provide necessary oversight over public utilities and increase transparency and accountability. We cannot allow PSEG-LI to continue putting Long Island residents through this nightmare.”