Better accountability: The buck will stop with LIPA when it fully manages the utility. Since Long Island and the Rockaways are its only service area, LIPA can focus on it and its needs exclusively. Customers will address their concerns only to LIPA and the Board of Trustees, which will have to answer only to the public it serves, not stockholders. With the changes to selecting the Board that are being developed by the Legislative Commission, we expect there will be more open lines of communication between the public and Board Members. When customers report on programs that don’t work well, they can be changed to fulfill their purpose and better serve the public.Better responsiveness: Right now, even when callers contact LIPA directly to report a problem, LIPA cannot do anything but relay the information to PSEG and wait for it to respond. With LIPA running the grid they will be able to respond to their ratepayers.Better maintenance: When KeySpan operated the grid they did little work to trim trees to protect the overhead electric lines. PSEG has been better about protecting infrastructure, but how a private company partner invests in a more reliable grid is up to them. When LIPA is in charge, it will determine how and when to harden the grid.Better communication: If you've ever played the game “Telephone” as a child, you know how garbled the message can get from start to finish. This is the same problem LIPA has with PSEG and previous public-private partners. If LIPA wants to make a change or detects a problem the communication has to go through LIPA and then be sent to PSEG. Valuable time is lost because the middleman slows the process. By being fully responsible for the execution of needed upgrades and solutions, LIPA can directly and quickly deal with any necessary updates, corrections, or changes.Improved public outreach and participation: The Reimagine LIPA campaign is promoting the idea of an “Energy Observatory” that is independent of both the utility and the government. The Energy Observatory would coordinate the needs of the utility with the needs of the community. Part of the purpose of the Energy Observatory proposed by the Reimagine LIPA campaign is to maintain a connection with the public. It can engage stakeholders before programs are designed and released to ensure the public understands and is able to access them.Better research: Another purpose of the Energy Observatory is to conduct even-handed research, both through reviewing existing studies and launching new independent ones on relevant topics. This way the Observatory can teach and demonstrate the best practices followed elsewhere and perhaps even improve upon them. Unbiased research leads to better decisions, policies, and programs.More funds to invest: Rather than sending profits to overpaid executives and stockholders, excess revenue would be directed towards paying down the debt, hardening the grid against the weather, building and/or incentivizing more renewables, and/or lowering electric rates.