Couple sues utility, cites leaking current

A Pound Ridge, Westchester County, couple says they're being zapped out of their $2.3 million dream home by currents coming from an electrical company substation next door.

Harold Mendelson, 76, and his wife Millie, 66, say they've taken to padding around in rubber-soled shoes to avoid being shocked by currents coursing under the floorboards of their antique home.

On Aug. 31, the couple sued NYSEG in Westchester County Supreme Court to get the company to buy their home.

"We have all sorts of neurological issues, muscle spasms," said Mendelson, a psychiatrist. "I can't have somebody in the house with a pacemaker."

This is not the first time the Mendelsons have gone to court. Some 15 years ago, Mendelson said he sued when electricity first started buzzing through the six-acre estate.

NYSEG agreed to install alarms on the property, he said. An alarm meant everyone had to exit the pool or risk electrocution.

But two years ago, Mendelson says, the alarms starting blaring dozens of times a day.

"The safety of our customers and employees is of paramount importance to us, and we comply with the New York State Public Service Commission's rigorous stray voltage testing and repair requirements," said Clayton Ellis, a NYSEG spokesman. "Because this particular situation is now in litigation, we have no further comment."

The Mendelsons say they've been zapped enough and plan to move to a house in a neighboring town. They want NYSEG to pay them for the home they moved into 25 years ago.