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THE BLUEPRINT:
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LIPA‘s proposed 2026 budget projects a 3.3% drop in electric bills.
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Plan includes $4.4B in operations and $1B in capital spending.
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Budget supports offshore wind, battery storage, and grid upgrades.
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Three public hearings planned before final board vote on Dec. 17.
At a time when costs for most everything else continue to rise, electric bills could be slightly lower for Long Island homeowners under the newly proposed Long Island Power Authority 2026 budget.
Following a meeting of its Board of Trustees on Thursday, LIPA announced that its proposed 2026 budget is projected to decrease the average residential customer electric bill by $6.53 or 3.3% compared with 2025 rates.
The proposed $4.4 billion operating and $1 billion capital plan is the first budget developed under LIPA’s five-year contract extension with PSEG Long Island, which “strengthens oversight, enhances cost controls, and reduces management fees by an estimated $17 million over the life of the agreement,” according to a LIPA statement.
“This budget lays the foundation for success in future years under our extended contract with PSEG Long Island,” Carrie Meek Gallagher, LIPA’s newly minted CEO, said in the statement. “By focusing on reliability, affordability, and increasingly clean energy, we’re maintaining a financially disciplined approach to operations while positioning LIPA to meet the challenges of the next decade with a stronger, more resilient grid.”
The proposed budget supports New York State’s energy goals, featuring offshore wind, battery energy storage and transmission upgrades; all of which are expected to deliver thousands of megawatts of carbon-free power. It also budgets for energy commodities, such as electricity, natural gas and fuel oil, projecting a $219 million decrease in power supply costs, according to the statement.
“Affordability remains central to LIPA’s mission,” LIPA Board Chair Tracey Edwards said in the statement. “While utilities across the nation are raising rates, LIPA continues to be an outlier – protecting ratepayers by holding the line on costs, maintaining reliability, and investing in a clean energy future for Long Island.”
David Lyons, interim president and COO of PSEG Long Island said: “PSEG Long Island is proud to be in partnership with LIPA to deliver cost savings to ratepayers while continuing to be the #1 overhead electric service provider in customer satisfaction and reliability in New York State.”
The LIPA board also approved “a temporary pause on disenrollments from its Household Assistance Rate Program” in which some 39,000 customers are enrolled and temporarily suspended service disconnections for low- to moderate-income customers affected by the ongoing federal government shutdown.
LIPA will hold three public hearings on the proposed budget: At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at the Rockaway YMCA in Arverne; at 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 24 at the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge; and at 6 p.m. the same day at LIPA headquarters at 333 Earle Ovington Blvd. in Uniondale.
More information on the proposed 2026 budget is available at lipa.org. The LIPA board will vote on a final budget on Wednesday, Dec. 17.
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David Winzelberg
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