Case Studies
Long Island, New York
Higher electric bills, accumulating debt, multiple investigations and major outages have plagued Long Island ratepayers ever since the government took control of their power
The takeover took 13 years. When the new state-authorized Long Island Power Authority, or LIPA, finally
got through all the legal battles and bureaucratic wrangling, the cost was $6.7 billion. That was 1998.
Since then, LIPA has gone billions of dollars into debt, its customers’ bills keep going up and it’s been the
subject of multiple investigations for poorly managing the electric grid.
LIPA is the only example of a large publicly owned – privately operated utility in the entire U.S.
If only they could have known that under LIPA…
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Monthly residential bills would jump by 50% in the first few years and the price of a kilowatt hour would be nearly double today – contradicting promises of lower rates
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25 years later they’d be $9 billion in debt including $260 million to finally fund employee pensions and benefits – an obligation LIPA denied for the previous 10+ years
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400,000 customers would be left without power for a week during the pandemic – an investigation revealed a total failure of communications and outage management systems
Now – “After more than 25 years of unsatisfactory management” – New York State wants to restructure LIPA, again, so it is completely controlled by the Government
LIPA vs Maine – What Can We Learn?
Long Island – similar in terms of weather, number of customers and miles of line to Maine – offers insights into what could happen here under Government-Controlled Power.
Where We Are Now…
| Long Island Power Authority | Central Maine Power + Versant | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Structure | Publicly Owned-Privately Operated | Investor-Owned |
| Average Residential Cost | 22.74¢ / kwh | 18.37¢ / kwh |
| Average Residential Bill | $187.50/month | $144.55/month |
| Number of Customers | 1,100,000 | 805,000 |
| Miles of Transmission & Distribution Wires | 15,378 | 33,822 |
Where We Could Be Headed…
| Long Island Power Authority | Maine Under Government-Controlled Power | |
|---|---|---|
| Takeover Process | Agreed to Sell | Eminent Domain |
| Time to Complete Acquisition | 13 Years | 10 Years (estimated) |
| Cost of Acquisition | $6.7 Billion | $13.5 Billion (estimated) |
| Future Structure | Total Government Control | Same Failed Model as LIPA: Publicly Owned-Privately Operated |