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• Laura
  May 10, 2023
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• Ellen
  May 9, 2023
  My name is Ellen DeFrancesco, a resident of Oceanside, and a Long Island Power Authority ratepayer. The findings of the draft report only reconfirm what many have pointed out for years: Long Island and Rockaway ratepayers will be better off without PSEG. A fully public LIPA will lower rates and provide more transparency and accountability, with more opportunities for local input. Now we must finalize the details to get there. The Commission must keep to its timeline and introduce legislation in time to pass this session. I care about this issue because I pay too much for my electric bills. I believe our utility should do more to protect ratepayers, invest in resilient infrastructure, and expand renewable energy. It must also be more democratic and provide meaningful opportunities for community participation. We need to transform the Board of Trustees to make it more accountable and diverse. This means restructuring it to have more expertise and to better represent ratepayers and their communities. We need to establish an accountable and representative multi-stakeholder Board where local voices help determine the composition by appointment. A new Community Board must be established to replace the existing Advisory Board. The Community Board should be made up of representatives from diverse sectors and backgrounds with proper geographic representation, all from the LIPA service territory. It must play a leading role in engaging communities across the service territory in determining rate structure, accessing energy programs, implementing renewable energy projects, providing support during outrages and other emergencies, and developing initiatives to help the utility realize its mission. It must be resourced with research support, technical assistance, and a budget. A restructured LIPA must spend more of its revenues for the benefit of our communities. LIPA should lower utility rates, especially for low-income households, seniors on fixed incomes, and small businesses. It should reinvest revenues to enhance resiliency, like burying our lines. And it should improve the identification of and service to customers with special needs. We also need a more equitable rate structure and to explore ending power shutoffs for low-income customers who can’t pay. Finally, unless requested by the workers, there must be no change to jobs, salaries, or benefits for the 2,500 ServCo employees under LIPA. IBEW Local 1049 has made it clear they do not want to be a public sector union. There are a few pathways to ensuring this outcome that they will help determine. We must support IBEW’s position in the transition and stand with the workers who have kept this system running. Thank you for your time and consideration.
  
• Regina
  May 2, 2023
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  To: LIPA Commission Advisory Committee Re: Future of the Long Island Power Authority My name is Regina Cohn, and I have been a resident of Long Island and the Rockaways for fifty years. I urge you to recommend a fully public LIPA which will result in lower rates for us as residents and ratepayers, and would provide more transparency and accountability via local resident input. I urge this Commission to keep to its timeline and introduce legislation in time to pass this session. I care about this issue because our family has lived through much that could be avoided in the future. Electric rates are too high. Our family was negatively impacted by both Superstorm Sandy, when we and our entire neighborhood was without power for two weeks, and Tropical Storm Isaias. A new Community Board must be established to replace the existing Advisory Board with a new Board comprised of representatives from diverse sectors and backgrounds with local geographic representation, representing all LIPA service territory. It must play a leading role in engaging communities across the service territory in determining rate structure, accessing energy programs, implementing renewable energy projects, providing support during outrages and other emergencies, and developing initiatives to help the utility realize its mission of serving the local community. It must be resourced with research support, technical assistance, and a budget. A restructured LIPA must spend more of its revenues for the benefit of our communities. It should reinvest revenues to enhance resiliency, like burying our lines and support community solar, thermal energy networks, and more wide ranging conservation programs. Through restructuring, the current employees represented by IBEW Local 1049 should have their status retained in a manner that is acceptable to them. A restructured LIPA must spend more of its revenues for the benefit of our communities. Rather than continue the decades-long habit of spending money on expensive management fees for private corporations, which diverts funds from public use, LIPA can double down on its commitment to invest in Long Island and the Rockaways. Thank you for your work and consideration.
  
• Laura
  April 25, 2023
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• Jorge
  April 20, 2023
  Government has proven time and time again that they are not able to run a business and compete with the open market. Also, LIPA has overspent - according to the Empire Center, LIPA has slashed its headcount by 37%. Meanwhile, its payroll has grown by 21%. The idea that prices will go down simply because it is no longer paying PSEG is misleading and untrue. LIPAs millions of dollars of debt would become the government's responsibility. Debt is not something that will away with a government takeover, as LIPA still has a responsibility to its creditors. There is an idea that government-run energy would be more "accountable." Simply put, the notion that any government agency would be more accountable to its customers than a private company is downright laughable. Examplet of government-run utilitie is Los Angeles' Department of Water and Power that has proven to cost significantly more than private companies. As a taxpayer and a customer, the government has no business entering into this business and would likely result in more expensive energy and likely less quality of service. Look at any government agency which is is overrun with waste and laziness of the employees.
  
• Michelle
  April 19, 2023
  My name is Michelle Herrick, a resident of Rockville Centre (unincorporated area), a parent, homeowner, and a Long Island Power Authority ratepayer. I am here to say that I support the work of this Commission. The findings of the draft report only reconfirm what many have pointed out for years: Long Island and Rockaway ratepayers will be better off without PSEG. A fully public LIPA will lower rates and provide more transparency and accountability, with more opportunities for local input. Now we must finalize the details to get there. The Commission must keep to its timeline and introduce legislation in time to pass this session. This Commission is the opportunity to reimagine, reinvent, and restructure LIPA so that it is led by those most impacted by decisions concerning our energy system: ratepayers, union workers, municipalities, community organizations, low-income households, and environmental justice communities. We must ensure that those who use, pay for, and work for the system have a say in how it runs. In order to do that, many things must happen. We need to transform the Board of Trustees to make it more competent, accountable and diverse. This means restructuring the Board to have more expertise and to better represent ratepayers and their communities. We need to establish an accountable and representative multi-stakeholder Board of Trustees where local voices help determine the composition by appointment. Right now all appointments to the LIPA Board are made by the governor and elected state officials with no meaningful input from local communities. The Board must be multi-stakeholder in terms of both constituencies and expertise. It should be composed of traditional members skilled in management, policy, law, science, engineering, technology, and cybersecurity. It should also consist of workers, customers, and community-based organizations, as well as experts in justice, resilience, and engagement. LIPA’s mission should be expanded to include climate justice, energy democracy, equity, and greater participation by its customers. This is necessary to change the underlying purpose of the utility, which does not currently prioritize these issues. Across the US, publicly owned utilities employ a range of mechanisms for public engagement. Some, such as the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), have citizen review boards that allow ratepayers to be actively involved in giving feedback on specific policy proposals and/or rate increases. SMUD also has a business advisory board with a focus on racial justice. Seattle’s public utility has a public advisory council that advises on rates and strategic plans. Austin Energy sponsors a regional science festival to invite diverse youth to learn about the energy sector. And one of the most impressive recent examples of engagement occurred in Los Angeles where the Department of Water and Power, as a part of developing its plan to transition to renewables by 2035, did a two-year-long engagement process that had an advisory group dedicated to environmental justice. With this in mind, a new Community Board must be established to replace the existing Advisory Board so that communities are centered in decision-making for the energy system and that sustained public participation is a function of the utility. LIPA has struggled to engage the public across the many different Towns, Villages, and Cities of Long Island and in the Rockaways. This has fostered disengagement and distrust while perpetuating inequities and vulnerabilities. The Community Board should be made up of representatives from diverse sectors and backgrounds including social justice, environmental, Indigenous Nations, business, labor, local government, economic development, energy, low and fixed income, consumer, civic, and education. These representatives should include those in Disadvantaged Communities in the LIPA service territory as defined by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. It should also have appropriate regional representation to account for the particular geographic scope of LIPA’s service territory. The Community Board must play a leading role in engaging communities across the LIPA service territory in determining rate structure, accessing energy programs, implementing renewable energy projects, providing support during outrages and other emergencies, and developing initiatives to help the utility realize its mission. It must be resourced with research support, technical assistance, and a budget to carry out its work. In order for the Community Board to be properly resourced, it must be supported by an independent Energy Observatory which would be funded by half of the current DPS-LI budget. Every self-directed public utility needs an independent partner institution to help monitor and advise the utility, engage ratepayers, conduct independent research, and support communities in their own efforts for resilience and energy justice. This is a body, independent from both the utility and the government, that would coordinate the needs of the utility with the needs of the community. Partnered with universities and community-based organizations, it would be a place to meaningfully involve communities within the LIPA service territory and has the potential to empower ratepayers, enhance social justice, and improve the quality of decision-making. A restructured LIPA must spend more of its revenues for the benefit of our communities. Rather than continue the decades-long habit of spending money on expensive management fees for private corporations, which diverts funds from public use, LIPA can double down on its commitment to invest in Long Island and the Rockaways. Instead of providing bonuses to unaccountable management and dividends to distant stockholders, LIPA should lower utility rates, especially for low-income households, seniors on fixed incomes, and small businesses; reinvest revenues to enhance resiliency; improve identification of and service to customers with special needs such as those requiring electricity for medical equipment and municipal sewage treatment plants and other services that would otherwise create environmental disasters; support community solar, thermal energy networks, and more wide ranging conservation programs; and seek out public-public partnerships that improve service delivery and community resilience. LIPA also has the right and ability to fund, build, own, and operate its own renewable energy systems via bond issuances, which should be explored as a part of the democratic buildout of public renewables. A more equitable rate structure is vital and a restructured LIPA must do more to uphold NYs goal of tackling the energy burden on LMI customers by ensuring they don’t spend more than 6% of their monthly income on their energy bills. We should also explore the recent decision by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to end power shut offs for low-income customers who can’t pay. Some things should stay the same, unless otherwise requested by the workers. There should be no change to the jobs, salaries, or benefits for the 2,500 ServCo employees. LIPA made, and kept, the same promise when it transitioned from National Grid to PSEG Long Island management in 2014. This dedicated workforce is integral to LIPA’s success under any management structure. IBEW Local 1049 has made it clear they do not want to be a public sector union. There are a few pathways to ensuring this outcome that they will determine for themselves. We must support IBEW’s position in the transition and stand with the workers who have kept this system running. This commission was set up to steer Long Island and the Rockaways back on course to the electric utility we need. I urge this commission to stay strong on this path and incorporate the above suggestions to truly reimagine LIPA. These are the reforms needed to build a truly accountable, democratic, renewable and affordable energy system.
  
• Lisa
  April 18, 2023
  During Hurricane Sandy I was without power for nearly two weeks. There was zero communication from LIPA, and getting power restored was no where in sight. Even before the hurricane, LIPA response was not great. Since Sandy, PSEGLI provides more reliable service, is more responsive and addresses customer needs quickly. If it is accurate that this commission was established in 2022 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, then why is the commission is only reviewing one path to provide power i.e. the public model. Why not consider private alternatives which holds companies accountable. It seems that the commission has already made up its mind if public is the only option i.e. LIPA so what's the point of hearings and taking comments from the public?I've been extremely satisfied with PSEG. Whenever I've had an issue, it has been fixed quickly and their communication is great with accurate up to the minute updates. I can count on them to provide me with reliable cost effective service. Let's not fix something that is not broken.
  
• Martin
  April 18, 2023
  Public Power is far more likely to employ ecological energy inputs and help users achieve cost effective conservation, if we are ever able to bring a solution to the climate crisis we face.
  
• Luciano
  April 15, 2023
  As a resident of Long Island for over four decades, I have seen many debacles including the Shoreham Nuclear Power, which your customers are still paying for, and hurricanes like Sandy which showed how antiquated and poorly designed LIPA is. Our home was without power for 18 days in Sandy's aftermath We pay rates that are among the highest in the nation and yet receive poor service in comparison to fully public utilities. LIPA should be a total public power company instead of the hybrid that we have now. By subcontracting the maintenance of the grid to private companies, it leaves us at the mercy of companies that LIPA seems to have little control over. My fellow Long Islanders and I have waited far too long for an efficient and cost effective public utility. Let's finally get this done!
  
• Laura
  February 16, 2023
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  Long Island Association "Lazard Report" Part 2
  
• Laura
  February 16, 2023
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  Long Island Association "Lazard Report" Part 1
  
• lena
  January 24, 2023
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  I am attaching a file. Many thanks. Lena Tabori
  
• Geraldine
  January 21, 2023
  My name is Geraldine Maslanka, and my husband and I live in Sag Harbor. We are retired senior citizens on fixed incomes and Long Island Power Authority ratepayers. We support the work of this Commission. We feel strongly that we must end the fundamentally flawed model of our utility and transition to a fully public model. We care about this issue because our electric bills are too high and continue to increase. Electricity is like air and water. A fundamental basic need like good health care and decent housing, and should not be subject to profit making entities that do not reinvest the earnings back into the community to provide for the neediest and do its utmost to protect ratepayers. Our utility should invest in resilient infrastructure, and expand renewable energy. It must also be more democratic and provide meaningful opportunities for community participation. We need to establish an accountable and representative multi-stakeholder Board that includes, in part, the direct election of members from ratepayers residing within LIPA’s service area. This is to ensure a democratic and autonomous public electric utility system.  We must replace the Department of Public Service with an independent Energy Observatory. This is a body, independent from both the utility and the government, that coordinates the needs of the utility with the needs of the community. Every self-directed public utility needs an independent partner institution to monitor and advise the utility, engage ratepayers, conduct independent research, and support communities in their own efforts for resilience and energy justice. A restructured LIPA must spend more of its revenues for the benefit of our communities. LIPA should lower utility rates, especially for low-income households, seniors, and small businesses. It should reinvest revenues to enhance resiliency, like burying our lines. And it should improve identification of and service to customers with special needs. We also need a more equitable rate structure and to explore ending power shutoffs for low-income customers who can’t pay.  Finally, unless wanted by the workers, there must be no change to jobs, salaries, or benefits for the 2,500 ServCo employees under LIPA. We must also maintain IBEW Local 1049 workers under ServCo. Do not transition workers to a public sector union. Thank you for your time and consideration. Geraldine Maslanka and Lee Marshall 6 Carver Street New York, NY 11963 914 589-9300
  
• Rameshwar
  January 21, 2023
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• Krae
  January 20, 2023
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  January 20, 2023 To the Legislative Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority: The requirement by LIPA that Electric Service Companies (or ESCO’s) operate under the LI Choice Program eliminates any monetary benefits to rate payers that may be achieved with Community Choice Aggregation. This locks Long Island rate payers into paying the highest energy costs in the nation, is anti-competitive, suppresses the adoption of renewable energy on Long Island, contradicts all greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals at the federal, state and local levels and makes us more vulnerable to grid failure from storms and attacks on the grid. It is cynical and disgraceful. I don’t know how they have gotten away with this obstructionist ploy to cover the costs of their prior commitments for overbuilding transmission and distribution infrastructure that has only served the interests of PSEG investors. This must end. Wholesale and retail energy markets need to be competitive. If they are, not only will costs be brought down for rate payers, but we will be able to choose renewable energy for our homes and businesses, direct our dollars to build local energy assets that are more resilient and ultimately create local ‘transactive’ energy markets where people can buy and sell energy with their neighbors. All this will increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We need to enable municipal energy coops and independent energy aggregators to serve Long Island and create tariffs that encourage small, distributed energy ‘pro-sumers’. Streamlined and standardized interconnection permits and rate structures that reward the full value stack of solar, storage and smart energy management software need to be established. Full public disclosure on all decision making should be required of LIPA on all RFP selections they make. Being able to operate in the dark behind closed doors invites malfeasance. All load data should be made public. Last but not least, LIPA needs to be subject to the oversight of the Public Service Commission and held truly accountable to citizen watch and not be able to regulate itself. Krae Van Sickle Co-Founder Drawdown East End 516 769 7877 krae@krae.net