Suffolk GOP Calls On PSEG Long Island To Compensate Long Island Families

Senator Phil Boyle joined with the four candidates for New York State Senate to demand that the leadership of PSEG Long Island immediately reimburse families who lost food and medicine due to the utility’s power outage failure.  The GOP calls for PSEG-LI’s management to immediately follow the lead of Con Ed which announced that they would reimburse their customers for the losses caused by outages that lasted over 48 hours.

The five members of the future Suffolk Senate Republican Delegation also called on Long Island’s Democratic Senate delegation to get more involved in the effort to protect Long Island ratepayers.  While the Senate Democrats have been issuing public statements and scheduling hearings, there has been a clear lack of action and Long Islanders need everyone in public office to fight for them.

“PSEG officials must immediately upgrade their communications systems to ensure that they know which Long Island homeowners are without power the moment those outages take place,” said Senator Boyle.  “My office has heard from countless constituents who called PSEG repeatedly over multiple days only to be told when they finally got through that the company was not showing an outage in their area. This is completely unacceptable and must be remedied now!”

“The Democrats seem to talk a great game without actually accomplishing anything for our residents and it is time for real action.  While Con Ed clearly is focused on serving their ratepayers, PSEG-LI has continually shown that they put profits, politics, and publicity before the people.  That must change immediately because their mismanagement is what exacerbated the situation and they must be held accountable,” stated Chairman Garcia.

“While the efforts of the hard-working PSEG-LI workers who have been out on our streets day and night are greatly appreciated, their leaders have clearly failed our families.  Without action, their mismanagement will cause our residents, who are already struggling with the financial hardship caused by COVID-19, to have to dig deeper into their wallets to feed their families.  These Long Islanders are already struggling with higher prices at the grocery store and a loss of discretionary income and it is simply unfair that they would be expected to restock their refrigerator due to their utility’s dismal performance.  Every single Senate Democrat, including my opponent, should be demanding that PSEG-LI reimburse their ratepayers so our families are not forced to pay twice to put food on their tables,” added Alexis Weik, Republican and Conservative candidate for New York’s 3rd Senate District.

“PSEG-LI was given the authority to serve our communities by Governor Cuomo following Hurricane Sandy and it is time to acknowledge that this arrangement has been an unmitigated failure.  The utility’s leadership was unprepared for the damage done, unable to recover and unwilling to speak to their customers - leaving them in the dark both literally and figuratively.  They must be held accountable for their failures and that starts with providing our residents with reimbursement for the situation their mismanagement caused,” stated Ed Smyth, the 5th Senate District’s Republican, Conservative, and Independence nominee.

“While the hardworking men and women from IBEW 1049 have been doing their best for our community, PSEG-LI leaders have continually let them and our residents down.  Their lack of planning and mismanagement is woefully unacceptable and they must take immediate action to protect their customers.  They must financially compensate the families they let down and we are demanding they do so without hesitation.  They owe our residents, who suffered through their failures, nothing less,” stated Mario Mattera, Republican, Conservative, and Independence nominee for New York’s 2nd Senate District.

“PSEG-LI is the only choice for many Long Islanders and it is clear that company leaders have become disinterested in truly serving them correctly.  PSEG-LI must be reminded that they exist solely to serve our residents and all elected officials in our state need to join our effort to hold them accountable for this fiasco.  The time for publicity-seeking hearings and bombastic statements is later - after our families are served.  Today, we need everyone in Office - especially the Democrats who control our state - to follow our lead to demand action for our communities,” said Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo, the Republican and Conservative nominee for New York’s 1st Senate District.

Under Con Ed’s customer-friendly plan, residents that were impacted by the storm will be reimbursed up to $500 for lost food and medicine.  This would apply to families that were forced to endure a power outage of 48 hours or more.  If PSEG-LI followed suit, this would save thousands of Long Island families millions of dollars.

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