PSEG's $15M in incentive pay sparks debate at LIPA trustees meeting

Two LIPA trustees took PSEG to task Wednesday for a report card that found the company missed critical performance metrics last year, with one board member calling the numbers “horrible.”

Newsday reported Wednesday that PSEG earned 69% of a potential incentive bonus of $22.2 million for its 2023 performance, receiving $15.3 million, after fully achieving 59 of 93 performance targets for 2023. PSEG, which operates the system under an $80 million contract for LIPA, missed 17 metrics and partially achieved 16.

The company scored highest for grid reliability, but missed important milestones in customer service and the task of migrating dozens of computer systems from PSEG’s parent in New Jersey to Long Island.

“Quite frankly, these numbers are horrible,” LIPA trustee Dominick Macchia said during a LIPA board meeting in Uniondale Wednesday. He questioned a staffer’s reference to the low scores as “challenges,” saying, “I’d like to use the word failures.” He added, “I don’t know what we need to do but they have to be addressed, and there has to be some kind of penalty for reporting these kind of numbers.”

Trustee Drew Biondo questioned the notion of paying incentive compensation at all.

“Why do we even have this in the contract?” Biondo said of the incentive pay, suggesting that ratepayers will question why. PSEG’s original contract had a smaller amount of its pay at risk for failing to meet performance metrics, but that amount was increased sharply to more than $20 million under a contract negotiated under then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo after PSEG’s failures during Tropical Storm Isaias.

“They’re supposed to be providing a service,” Biondo said of PSEG. “Provide the service. If you don’t provide the service, you don’t get the contract.”

LIPA recently issued a request for proposals soliciting for new companies to bid for the contract to operate the electric grid, as PSEG’s contract expires at the end of 2025. PSEG is expected to bid.

Acting LIPA chief executive John Rhodes said while he “wasn’t going to defend” the numbers, there “are in fact many contracts where you pay for the progress that was made.”

One trustee, David Manning, questioned whether PSEG had too many metrics to meet, and suggested reducing them. “It seems to me that there are a tremendous number of deliverables, I mean, that’s a long list,” he said of the 93 metrics. “Is there any opportunity to look at whether this is still the right list or the right number?”

Rhodes said there was a “natural opportunity” to get the number of metrics right, adding that it’s reviewed annually and metrics are reduced for this year. But he added, “We need to get to good performance and we need to get to value for ratepayers, otherwise we’re not doing our job.”

PSEG in a statement Monday said it was “committed to continuous improvement and consistently looks to improve on previous performance.”

Ratepayer, activist and former teacher Fred Harrison noted in comments to the board that PSEG has been at LIPA for 10 years, “Yet they are still a C student. Something is wrong. Somebody has to be held accountable.”

In other news, LIPA trustees voted to appoint Donna Mongiardo as the authority’s permanent chief financial officer. Last week, Mongiardo, previously vice president and controller at LIPA, was named acting CFO after the prior chief financial officer, Dennis Anosike, abruptly resigned after six months on the job. Afterward, S&P Global Ratings issued an alert expressing concerns about top-level departures at LIPA.

LIPA chairwoman Tracey Edwards during a board presentation said turnover was higher at LIPA in prior years, an assessment that Biondo took exception to. LIPA also named Evan Burke manager of treasury, Suzanne Brienza director of customer experience, and, on the board, Valerie Anderson Campbell as vice chairwoman.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

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