Long Islanders fume over utility’s storm response

“It is a huge computer system. After Irene we immediately accelerated that process, and even at that it is still an 18-month to two-year process,” LIPA’s chief operating officer, Michael Hervey, said Monday. “We would have liked to have had it up and running for now, but it’s just such a large magnitude computer system that it takes that long.”

Hervey said the company will be working with remaining customers over the next several weeks as they get their homes repaired. “They can’t be safely re-energized from an electrical standpoint,” he said. “We are ready to service those areas, but they are not ready to take it right now.”

John Bruckner, president of National Grid Long Island transmission and distribution, said he had about 15,000 people working on restoration, including 6,400 linemen from all over the U.S. and Canada.

Matthew Cordaro, co-chairman of the Suffolk Legislature’s LIPA Oversight Committee and a former utility executive, said Con Ed and Public Service Electric & Gas New Jersey did a good job responding to the storm, and LIPA didn’t.

While a storm of that magnitude would challenge any electricity provider, he said LIPA is probably one of the most poorly run utilities and has a “crazy” public-private organizational structure that’s fraught with problems and raises questions of accountability.

In New Jersey, post-Sandy recovery moved ahead, with Gov. Chris Christie announcing that the odd-even system of gas rationing would end starting Tuesday. The head of NJ Transit said a severely damaged rail line could be up and running more quickly than what had been estimated.

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