PSEG Long Island eligible for $9.4 million in bonus pay for 2021

PSEG Long Island is eligible to receive $9.4 million in bonus compensation for 2021 after achieving 24 of 26 service goals for the year, despite low customer-satisfaction scores that left it near the bottom in a national ranking, a new LIPA report says.

In a filing with the state Department of Public Service, LIPA said PSEG achieved or exceeded target scores on 24 performance metrics for items such as budgeting, system reliability, speed of call answering, smart-meter rollout and new heat pumps installed.

The report says PSEG came up short on two critical metrics: the J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey for residential ratepayers and business customers.

Missing them cost PSEG $795,579 in bonus compensation, according to the report.

PSEG also receives a base $68 million management fee.

DPS has until May 31 to review the LIPA report and recommend the $9.4 million payout. 

LIPA and PSEG hammered out a new annual contract that puts about half the company's annual compensation at risk for failing to meet approximately 100 metrics.

The new contract is in effect through December 2025. 

According to the LIPA filing, PSEG’s residential customer satisfaction score of 677 out of a possible 1,000 points left the company in second-to-last place among its peer group of 17 large eastern electric utilities in the national J.D. Power survey.

PSEG could have received 100% of its total compensation had it scored 730 on the JD Power residential survey, which interviews hundreds of Long Island customers in four waves throughout the year. However, 

PSEG’s score was above the “minimum performance” of 657, the report notes. 

On the business side, PSEG’s score of 737 put it in last place among its peer group of utilities, and represented “a significant drop from the 2020 year-end score of 781,” according to the LIPA report.

LIPA senior vice president Billy Raley noted in the report that PSEG's performance exceeded the minimum level of 710.

PSEG fared better on its own after-call surveys, which ask customers to rate satisfaction after they have called in with an issue.

Performance on the metric was 95.1% for residential customers and 96.3% for business.

PSEG also improved in the metric that measures customer complaint rates as measured by the state DPS.

PSEG spokeswoman Ashley Chauvin said in a statement the two missed J.D. Power metrics come after the company's work "to rebuild customer trust" following Tropical Storm Isaias. 

Chauvin said PSEG was committed to being an industry-leading electric company dedicated to Long Island and the Rockaways, and creating the best possible experience for customers."

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.