According to the State Authority Budget Office’s Annual Report issued on July 1, 2008 for the Year Ended December 31, 2007, LIPA which was run by Richie Kessel until Fall 2007 and for the prior ten years, has 49 employees making over $100,000 or fully 49% of its workforce. Not only is NYPA which actually operates power plants throughout the State a much larger entity than LIPA, NYPA’s 1,600-person work force is also more modestly compensated. At NYPA, only 18% of the workforce makes more than $100,000 and the average salary is $81,000. Comparing Kessel’s LIPA to authorities across the State, the 49% of LIPA’s workforce making more than $100,000 compares to 7% of the State authority employees making over that pay level. Finally, the 49 LIPA employees making over $100,000 make an average of $154,000 a year (the comparable number for NYPA is $125,000). Look for NYPA’s non-union workforce to enjoy Kessel’s largesse with public money and for State electric customers to pick up the tab.

In looking at these numbers, it is important to remember that at LIPA, the actual maintenance and generating and transmission and distribution work is done by KeySpan’s (now National Grid) well-qualified workforce so that LIPA’s highly paid employees are operating from the comfort of their offices in Uniondale and elsewhere on the Island and not atop utility poles.

Street Corner Conservative will have more on the ABO Report in the future. Thanks to James Heaney of the Buffalo News for focusing the public and Street Corner Conservative on the ABO report.

This entry was posted on December 15, 2008 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Richie Kessel NYPA Watch-SCC. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.