PSEG misses targets for system reliability, to forfeit $1M in bonus pay, report says

By Mark Harringtonmark.harrington@newsday.com MHarringtonNewsUpdated June 18, 2026 9:14 pm

PSEG Long Island will forfeit at least $1.1 million in bonus-incentive pay after again missing critical targets for system reliability in 2025, according to a new state report.

The findings by the state Department of Public Service are only a portion of a larger report card on PSEG’s performance for 2025. LIPA spokeswoman Michelle Livingston said the full report will be released at a LIPA board meeting next week.

The figures for PSEG show the total number of customer outages, the duration of those outages and the number of customers affected by them all increased over the past five years.

The number of customers impacted by outages has jumped steadily, from 773,082 in 2021 to 877,637 last year, while the average outage duration per customer increased from 1.35 hours in 2021 to 1.37 hours in each of the following years.

The total number of hours PSEG customers were left in the dark also increased steadily in each of the past five years, from 1,037,492 hours in 2021 to 1,199,696 in 2025.

The number of events that led to customer outages increased from 19,555 in 2021 to 23,868 last year.

Including major storms, the number of customers impacted has increased from 827,804 in 2021 to 914,086 last year, with some down years in between. Total hours without power, including major storms, have dropped most years, from 1,276,823 hours in 2021 to 1,237,746 last year.

PSEG spokeswoman Katy Tatzel in an email pointed to 2025 state figures in asserting the utility had the lowest outage frequency, shortest outage time and fastest restoration time, including for the year and the five-year average, compared with other utilities, and said, "We’re proud of the team for achieving the recent targets that have been set beyond these ‘best in state’ levels due in part to our success."

The DPS report said a "key factor" driving the higher number of outages was an increase in the number of storms. During 2025, the region saw a total of 15 storms, one of which was major, compared with 13 storms in 2024. The 2025 figures also include two major road accidents.

A chart included in the report noted that equipment failure (48%) and tree contacts (19.4%) were the two biggest causes of outages, both reportedly rooted in 2025 storms. Other factors that impacted outage figures included accidents (10.5%), lightning (0.5%), overloads (1.2%), prearranged outages for repairs (16.8%), unknown (3.8%) and errors (0.1%). Customer equipment caused around 1% of outages.

PSEG in its past performance report card with LIPA has missed the reliability targets and other targets in the past.

In 2024, PSEG fully met 49% of 61 metrics, partially met 31% and missed 17% (3% were canceled), with a request to receive $15.74 million of a total $22.97 million in at-risk compensation. LIPA and the state lowered the compensation to $15.48 million.

In 2023 PSEG fully met 63% of a larger pool of 91 metrics, partially met 17% and failed to meet 18%. For that year’s work, LIPA recommended PSEG be awarded $15.3 million of a potential $22.28 million.

Last year, the LIPA board of trustees voted to extend PSEG's contract for another five years despite a "strong" staff recommendation that LIPA award the contract to another provider, Quanta Services. The $492 million contract provides for an annual management fee starting at $88 million a year, and increasing to $108 million in 2030, the final year of the contract, according to documents recently obtained by Newsday.

Last month, Newsday reported that PSEG’s top executives saw their bonuses increase a cumulative 22.6% last year to just over $1.36 million, while "other" pay, which included housing and car allowances, increased 14.7%. In all, according to the review, those officials received $6.3 million in total compensation last year compared with $5.7 million in 2024, a 10% jump.