Decrying a Rate Hike
PSEG Long Island’s three-year rate plan calling for an annual increase of almost 4 percent in the utility’s fuel delivery charge has drawn harsh criticism from Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who accused the utility of having done “nothing but put their hands in our pockets” since it assumed operation of the Long Island Power Authority’s electric grid in January 2014.
The proposal, which the utility filed with the State Department of Public Service on Friday, would go into effect next year, upon expiration of the three-year rate freeze imposed by the LIPA Reform Act. A statement issued by PSEG Long Island said that the rate increases, which would boost its revenue by $72 million per year, would help maintain reliable service by funding upgrades to transmission infrastructure and the incorporation of more renewable energy and demand-side resources onto the power grid.
The increased revenue would also improve customer service and storm response and preparedness, and enhance tree trimming and vegetation management, according to the statement. The plan would result in a monthly increase to residential customers of approximately $3.25 next year and $3.30 in 2017 and 2018, or 2 percent of their overall bill.
Mr. Thiele, who recently called for state oversight of the New Jersey-based PSEG and creation of a consumer utility advocate, decried the plan in a statement issued on Monday.
“While businesses, families, and government are all taking actions to cut their costs and operate more efficiently on Long Island to restore the economy, PSEG has reached its hand in our pockets at every opportunity,” he said. “Long Island already has among the highest utility rates in the nation; we can’t afford to send more of our money to Newark, New Jersey, for electricity. The only thing PSEG is missing is a gun and a mask.”
Jeffrey Weir, a PSEG spokesman, fired back at Mr. Thiele. “Relics of the past like Fred Thiele are apparently having trouble understanding how things are being made better for customers across Long Island now that there is a professional utility running the business,” Mr. Weir said on Monday. “As Fred very well knows, when we were selected as the new service producer, we faced immediate and significant challenges — of note, well-publicized issues with customer satisfaction, customer service, communication, and maintenance of equipment.”
In the 13 months since PSEG Long Island assumed operation of the power grid, Mr. Weir said, the utility has shown “the most improved and overall customer satisfaction of any large electric utility anywhere in the nation.”
PSEG Long Island’s infrastructure upgrade in the Town of East Hampton, for which it installed new, taller poles and a higher-voltage transmission line through some residential neighborhoods last year, has angered many residents of East Hampton and Amagansett. The potential for a toxic preservative with which the utility poles are treated to contaminate soil and groundwater has also worried residents as well as Town and Village of East Hampton officials.
In December, LIPA rejected a proposed offshore wind farm, citing a prohibitively high cost. Instead, it opted to pursue 11 land-based solar farms in western Suffolk County, which are projected to provide 122 megawatts of power, significantly less than the 280 megawatts of renewable energy it had announced as a goal in 2012.
LIPA’s board of trustees must approve PSEG Long Island’s rate proposal, and public comment sessions will be held.
“Yes, there will be public hearings,” Mr. Thiele said in his statement. “However, in the end, there will be no accountability to the people of Long Island.”
Mr. Weir accused the assemblyman of “ignoring the facts.” For the first time, he said, “Long Islanders are being given the opportunity to have an open and transparent conversation with their utility, and PSEG Long Island is pushing for that transparency and encouraging that dialogue.”