The Long Island Power Authority has approved a 2013 budget that does not raise rates, amid personnel changes that have elevated two Nassau County residents to top positions at the utility.
“We are pleased the Board of Trustees approved an Operating and Capital Budget that does not require any delivery or efficiency and renewable charge increase for next year,” said LIPA Chief Operating Officer Michael Hervey in a press release December 17.
The LIPA board also approved the suspension of late payment charges through Jan. 31 and waived 14 days of daily service charged for metered customers.
That release will be one of Hervey’s last as LIPA’s COO.
That same day the utility announced that Garden City resident Michael Taunton has been named Hervey’s replacement. Hervey had announced his intention to resign by the end of the year amid a fire storm of criticism in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
“As I assume this new role, I recognize that we have many challenges ahead, but I also see the opportunities. Along with the LIPA Board of Trustees, our executive leadership and employees, I am committed to evolving and strengthening LIPA to better meet the needs of our customers, investors and employees,” wrote Taunton in a statement. “My first priorities are to stabilize the organization during this pivotal time; deliver our customers the safe and reliable service they deserve and need; do the work needed to assure our investors that LIPA is a sound investment; and lead and motivate our dedicated staff.”
In another personnel change, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has appointed LIPA Trustee and Roslyn Heights resident Lawrence Waldman to the utility’s vacant chairmanship less than two weeks after the resignation former chairman Howard Steinberg. Cuomo is yet to release an official statement on the move, but Waldman confirmed his appointment to the Long Island Business News, saying he was honored to be selected for the position and looked forward to improving LIPA in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
“The trustees and I are ratepayers, too,” Waldman said to the Long Island Business News. “We view ourselves as the fiscal stewards for all the rest of the ratepayers. That’s the way we look at it.”
In addition to serving as a LIPA trustee, Waldman is partner-in-charge at consulting firm EisnerAmpner’s Long Island Office Audit Practice Development, according to a biography on EisnerAmpner’s Web site. He also serves as treasurer and trustee of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook University.
Waldman is treasurer of the Long Island Association, a regional business group, and is a former president of the East Williston Union Free School District, according to the biography.
LIPA, which was blasted by local officials for its performance and communication during the weeks-long blackouts after Sandy, is operating short staffed. Only nine of its 15 trustee positions are filled. Four are to be appointed by Cuomo, with the other two to be selected by the state Legislature.
In the weeks after the storm local municipal leaders from Great Neck, New Hyde Park and the Willistons joined officials from across Long Island in attacking what they described as LIPA’s insufficient and misleading efforts to keep the public and elected officials informed about the progress of electricity restoration.
LIPA is also one of the subjects being investigated by a commission established by Cuomo under the Moreland Act to look into the response of utilities to the storm. The commission, which has sweeping investigative powers under the law and will make recommendations to the Legislature following the completion of its inquiry, recently issued subpoenas to LIPA and fellow utility Con Edison.
Reach reporter Dan Glaun by e-mail at dglaun@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x203. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
