Push for public LIPA shifts into gear as hearings restart

After a series of delays and setbacks, the effort to transition LIPA into a fully public power utility shifts back into gear this week with new public hearings and the potential for more clarity on its impact on rates and governing structure.

Hearings that start in Suffolk County on Tuesday will examine the potential for rate relief for customers and a likely appointed board structure for a future LIPA, as a state legislative commission completes its work to make way for the transition.

Shifting to a fully public power model would move LIPA away from its traditional use of using an outside service provider to run the utility, idling PSEG Long Island, whose contract expires in 2025, while saving up to $80 million a year, backers of the public plan say. 

The Legislative Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority has narrowed options for a board of trustees for the utility, finding that an appointed board would be better suited to LIPA’s structure than an elected one, said Rory Lancman, executive director of the committee. What remains to be decided, he said, is the specific composition of the board and who will appoint it.

Under the existing structure, the LIPA board of nine members is appointed by state officials — five by the governor and two each by the majority leaders of the state Assembly and Senate. A key factor for unions is that with an appointed board, the utility’s dealings with the unionized workforce would remain under the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Act and its board.

“It’s our analysis that in order to implement oversight of the NLRB to the maximum extent possible, that the LIPA board has to be appointed and cannot be elected,” Lancman said.

PSEG Long Island and some business groups oppose a fully public LIPA, saying the current model with an outside service provider has served ratepayers best. Some have called for the utility to be sold outright, a scenario LIPA has said would lead to significantly higher bills by 2031.

The legislative commission this summer contracted with a new outside consulting firm, NewGen, to conduct additional financial analysis of the impact on ratepayers of the new structure and confirmed there would be “a potential for savings for ratepayers,” Lancman said.

Backers: Savings of up to $80 million possible

What remains to be seen, he said, is how the future LIPA board would use such savings, estimated previously estimated at between $50 million and $80 million a year.

The panel had been working to complete its work during this year's spring legislative session, but was beset by delays and a change of consultants, Newsday has reported.

Now, the hope is that it can get its work done this fall and have a completed analysis on state legislators’ desks by January, Lancman said.

Meanwhile, a local coalition of more than 90 local groups led by the Long Island Progressive Coalition has written to Gov. Kathy Hochul urging her to approve a fully public LIPA, said Lisa Tyson, executive director of the Long Island Progressive Coalition, and co-chair of a commission advisory council. A rally is planned for Monday. 

One big factor in the commission’s progress will be its ability to convince leaders of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers that any future contract will guarantee more than 2,000 workers’ salaries, benefits and pensions.

Union wants assurances for workers

Patrick Guidice, business manager for IBEW Local 1049, which is negotiating with PSEG on separate worker contracts, said he will be attending hearings this week to “talk about my deep concern for how a municipalized utility will affect members.”

“We’re paying very close attention to the process,” said Guidice, who also sits on the legislative commission's advisory council. “We’re deeply involved in how the commission is being advised.” Giudice said the union supports LIPA remaining under the existing public-private model “until we can get guarantees that our wages, benefits and pensions under the National Labor Relations Act will remain the same.”

Lancman said the panel was “completely committed to ensuring any transition to public power protects the wages, benefits, pensions and labor protections that the people who actually do the work have bargained for over the years. Our lawyers and union lawyers are going back and forth to get the language to be as strong as possible to assure those protections.”

Hearings led by the commission start Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the Suffolk County Legislature building in Smithtown, followed by a second session on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Nassau Legislature building in Mineola.

The following week, on Sept. 18, a hearing will be held at the Rockaway YMCA in Arverne at 10 a.m., and another will be held Sept. 20 at 11 a.m. at Southampton Town Hall in Southampton. A final hearing is scheduled for noon on Sept. 27 at Farmingdale State College, Quintyne Hall 100.

More information about the committee and its work can be found at https://nylipa.gov/.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.