Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. today announced that the New York State Assembly Committee on Energy will be holding a hearing examining the management and provision of electric service on Long Island. The hearing will be held at the Brookhaven Town Hall, located at 1 Independence Hill in Farmingville, on Monday, August 9 at 10:30am.

Electric service on Long Island is currently provided by the Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG)-LI pursuant to a contract with the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). Last month, behind closed doors, LIPA and PSEG-LI reached a deal to extend their contract, leaving the fate of Long Island’s power supply in the hands of a notoriously incompetent actor.

During Tropical Storm Isaias in August 2020, PSEG-LI, provided a communications and storm response for Long Island that can only be described as a catastrophic failure. Those failures were well-documented and publicized by LIPA. It was clear that there had not been proper oversight over the contract between LIPA and PSEG-LI. Further, PSEG-LI had misled LIPA and the people of Long Island about its state of readiness to respond to this tropical storm. PSEG-LI breached its contract with LIPA. More importantly, any trust that Long Islanders might have placed in PSEG-LI had been irrevocably broken. We are still being told by LIPA that the system still isn’t fixed. For months, LIPA, in report after report, gave chapter and verse about the failures of PSEG-LI and how LIPA had been misled. Further, LIPA also documented that there were better options available than PSEG-LI. Most notably, a full public power company could provide better service and at a less cost. This was the original vision of the framers of the LIPA statute. A full public power company accountable directly to the people of Long Island.

After several misfires, including Tropical Isaias and Superstorm Sandy, it is clear that the third-party service contract model is a failure. It lacks oversight, transparency, and accountability. No other utility in the nation even has such a convoluted management structure. Yet, LIPA, after fully documenting PSEG-LI’s failures and the breach of trust, decided that continuing this failed relationship was the best option.

Long Island’s ratepayers and economy have paid the price for this partnership. Someday, maybe this summer or next, Long Islanders will pay the price again for this irresponsible decision.

I have publicly urged the LIPA Board of Trustees to reject this ill-considered plan and return to the original vision of a public power company for Long Island. It is imperative that the Assembly hold this hearing and hear testimony from all involved stakeholders to examine the management and provision of electric service on Long Island, both now and into the future. I thank Assemblyman Cusick, Chair of the Assembly Energy Committee, for recognizing the importance of addressing this issue and calling for this hearing.