LIPA owes customers immediate refunds
Ghulam Sarwar, seen next to the electric meter in his store Waverly Foods in Patchogue in 2007. Credit: Elizabth Sagarin
I am outraged by the recent article, "Oops! LIPA overcharged us by $231 Million" [News, Feb. 9] and the response by the Long Island Power Authority that it plans to repay consumers through an incremental rate cut over the next three years.
Let me understand this. When a customer doesn't pay LIPA for its service, can the customer defer payment for three years? Not likely. He or she can expect to have the electricity cut off.
In tough economic times, along with the fact that Long Islanders pay among the highest rates in the country, I find the LIPA board members' decision to defer repayment arrogant and self-serving. Add to this their poor accounting of storm costs, and clearly this is an agency that needs a new watchdog committee representing the consumer.
Rick Stanley
What do LIPA and Bernard Madoff have in common? They both perpetrated a faulty formula on an unsuspecting public.
Bob Buscavage