Dive Summary:

• New York governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the blueprint to improve the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), faulted for its poor service after Surperstorm Sandy.
• The New Jersey-based PSEG will take-over the crippled utility in a plan that will freeze rates for three years, layoff more than half of LIPA’s staff and board members, improve customer service and emergency response, reduce LIPA’s debt and heighten rigorous state oversight.
• PSEG will do away with LIPA’s old structure which outsourced resource and capital investment decisions to consultants and not utility managers running the operation.

From the article:
“Following Superstorm Sandy, Governor Cuomo established a Moreland Commission to investigate the response, preparation and management of LIPA, among other utility companies. The Moreland Commission’s investigation concluded that LIPA’s poor customer service, high rates, large debt load, insufficient and antiquated infrastructure, and failure to perform during natural disasters are a result of its dysfunctional bi-furcated structure.”