A bill to give Public Service Commission the power to order LIPA implement management and operations reforms was passed Wednesday by the state Senate.
Sponsored by State Sen. James Gaughran, the bill was previously approved by the state Assembly. Gaughran’s office said, the legislation will authorize the PSC to require LIPA implement reforms made in any audit where fraud, abuse, or mismanagement by a service provider was found. The PSC would be authorized to revoke a service provider’s authority to operate in New York for failure to comply.
Gaughran said, “For too long LIPA has operated as a self-policing runaway authority that answers to Wall Street and its corporate interests instead of the 1.1 million customers who rely on LIPA for electricity to run their father’s ventilator and power their child’s school computer. That ends today. This bill will give the PSC desperately-needed authority to regulate LIPA — which holds a monopoly on Long Island’s electrical grid. It’s time LIPA play by the same rules utilities across the state have to abide by. No utility should have the luxury to self-edit reports, doctor state-mandate audits, or ignore PSC’s recommendations.”
LIPA-PSC Bill