Thank you for keeping an eye on LIPA

You spoke up and the Governor listened!

LIPA and its subcontractors will be subject to a new layer of oversight starting in 2021. On December 23rd, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a bill by Assemblyman Fred Thiele and Senator Jim Gaughran, that would subject LIPA to penalties. The bill would give the state Public Service Commission full authority to force LIPA to implement recommendations in required management audits of the authority where fraud, abuse or mismanagement is found.

Why is this significant? At this time, five Long Island municipalities (Towns of Southampton, Brookhaven, Hempstead, and East Hampton, and Southampton Village) representing a half a million households have adopted legislation authorizing themselves to launch a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program.

LIPA's CCA rules and regulations, requires CCA customers to pay for on-Island power capacity under long-term LIPA contracts, a structure that limits the ability of an alternative provider of electricity and therefore a CCA program, to offer competitive pricing. That "surcharge," renders a CCA program unworkable on Long Island.

The greater the public demand for a vibrant competitive market for electricity on Long Island, the higher the likelihood the last obstacle in its path will be removed by the leadership in Albany.

Thank you for helping communicate that message to Albany.

Read more about this and what the next step is towards a competitive market on Long Island.