Politics & Government
LIPA to Raise Rates
One month after it was hammered by customers over its hurricane response, the power authority said it's increasing how much customers will pay for power.
The Long Island Power Authority said higher fuel costs are forcing it to install a 2 percent rate hike starting in October.
The charge isn't much. The average customer will pay about $3 more per month.
But the announcement came only one month after Hurricane Irene knocked many Long Island residents off-line for a week. Power-starved customers were infuriated by their inability to reach LIPA, which tried to communicate with customers through Twitter. The response on the social media site wasn't always friendly. In fact, it was far from it.
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LIPA said the latest increase does not take into account the $176 million it cost to restore service in the wake of Hurricane Irene. Some good news: The federal government is expected to reimburse LIPA for 75 percent of that cost.
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