LIPA bill still awaits governor's approval
A file photo of a LIPA meter on July 13, 2011. LIPA is projecting a slight increase in electric sales for 2015, despite several years of flat or declining sales. Credit: Randee Daddona
Three months after its passage by the State Legislature, a bill that would require a regulatory review of LIPA rate increases of 2.5 percent or greater is stalled at the governor's office.
A spokesman for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Wednesday that the bill remains under "review." The spokesman, Joshua Vlasto, wouldn't discuss it further. Cuomo could request it be sent up for signing or veto at any time before year's end.
"We send bills to the governor's office at their request," said Scott Reif, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. "That [bill] has not been requested."
It's one of a handful of bills that remain unresolved.
The LIPA bill would require a full Public Service Commission review for any rate increase above 2.5 percent in a 12-month period. LIPA opposes the bill, maintaining it could increase rates if LIPA's bond rating were to be lowered as a result.
In a recent ratings statement, Moody's lowered the outlook for LIPA bonds, though the rating remained the same. Moody's in its report said it expected Cuomo to veto the legislation.
Assemb. Robert Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst), the bill's sponsor, said he contacted Cuomo's office shortly after Tropical Storm Irene because he believed the uproar over failed customer communications provided an opportunity for Cuomo to sign the bill.
Sweeney said he offered to work with the governor's staff to adjust, amend or completely rework the bill to make it acceptable, so long as it continued to provide "meaningful" oversight. He said he hasn't heard back.
State Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), the bill's Senate sponsor, expects action soon, he said. "The bill hasn't been sent to the governor at this point, but it will be in the foreseeable future," said LaValle, adding that "LIPA is on the radar screen" of the governor's office. "They have to figure out who the CEO is going to be and what kind of model to follow," he said.
Tropical Storm Irene, which made landfall on Long Island in late August, created a vacuum for customer complaints when ratepayers couldn't get through to LIPA to report outages or downed wires -- a factor legislators said showed the need for an outside body to oversee LIPA. "We essentially were serving as LIPA call centers," state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick) said. "We were receiving hundreds of calls and emails a day."