Letter: Utilities consumer advocate needed
On May 29, 2014, 20 East Hampton residents and the group Long Island Businesses for Responsible Energy filed a lawsuit against PSEG Long Island and LIPA, alleging that a 6-mile overhead transmission line and recently installed utility poles are causing harm to property values and threatening residents’ health. (Credit: Newsday / Jessica Rotkiewicz) Credit: Brad Penner
Your front-page story "Proposal to cut LIPA debt: Charge customers more" [News, Nov. 18] should serve as a wake-up call to our state senators.
The Long Island Power Authority's private financial adviser might be urging a rate increase, but 74 percent of Long Island's 50-and-over residents are already worried about affording their sky-high utility bills, a greater percentage than their peers anywhere else in New York, according to recent surveys by my organization.
It's the high cost of utilities, property taxes and housing that has 70 percent of working Long Island baby boomers saying they may flee New York in retirement -- again, a higher percentage of boomers than anywhere else in the state.
With retired boomers set to contribute nearly $32 billion a year to the Island's economy, we can't afford to lose them.
Our senators should pass a bill establishing an independent utility consumer advocate to fight unwarranted rate hikes. Forty other states have done this, saving residents billions of dollars.
Ironically, it's Senate co-leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) who has blocked the bill, which has twice passed the Assembly with bipartisan votes and is supported by 83 percent of Long Islanders older than 50, according to our survey.
William Stoner, Mount Sinai
Editor's note: The writer is the associate state director for Long Island of the AARP.
