Editing Municipalization (section)

===Long Island, New York===
Basic Information: "The [[Long Island Power Authority]] territory consists of New York's [[Nassau County, New York|Nassau]] and [[Suffolk County, New York|Suffolk]] counties and part of [[Queens, New York City]], including the [[JFK international airport|JFK International Airport]]."<ref name=":0" />

Key motivating factors: The effort to municipalize [[Long Island|Long Island's]] electricity was primarily motivated by rising (and high) prices and bad reliability.

Timeline of Significant Events:

1980s: The investor-owned [[Long Island Lighting Company|Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO)]] faces near bankruptcy catalyzing the effort to municipalize led by then Governor [[Mario Cuomo]]. Despite public support for municipalization the effort faced strong opposition from LILCO.<ref name=":0" />

1985: The Long Island Power Authority Act passes which established Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). LIPA was charged with taking over the [[Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant|Shoreham plant]] and its debts, as well as controlling electricity costs.<ref name=":0" />

1998: Governor [[George Pataki]] led the effort to take over LILCO's entire system due to customers still facing high utility prices. The takeover was financed through public bond offerings and over the next few years customers experienced reduced rate.<ref name=":0" />

2012: [[Hurricane Sandy]] hits Long Island significantly damaging the power system and causing extensive outages. LIPA faces intense criticism for its response.<ref name=":0" />

2013: In an effort led by Governor [[Andrew Cuomo]], the LIPA Reform Act of 2013 which reorganized LIPA, placing the day-to‐day operations under [[PSEG Energy Holdings|PSEG]] was approved by the state legislature.<ref name=":0" />

Results: The effort has been largely successful given that customer approval has improved to over 90 percent satisfaction level and LIPA's rates are no longer the highest in the New York Metro Area. This reflects that the key motivating factors were addressed.