AT GATHERING, A MOMENT OF SILENCE
Word received during meeting of death of Anne Mead, former PSC chairmwoman
LARRY RULISON
BUSINESS WRITER
Time Union
Section: Business, Page: C1
Date: Friday, May 21, 2010
BETHLEHEM — A moment of silence was held Thursday during a gathering in Delmar of energy and telecommunications executives and policy makers for the passing of Anne Mead, a former chairwoman of the state Public Service Commission.
News of the Long Island native’s death came during a panel discussion of current and former PSC members organized by New York State Women in Communications and Energy, a networking and educational group for women in the energy and telecom fields. The event was held at Normanskill Country Club.
“She was a wonderful, wonderful woman,” said Judy Lee, the moderator of the talk, who is executive deputy to current PSC Chairman Garry Brown.
Mead was appointed to the PSC in 1976. Maureen Helmer, one of the participants in Thursday’s panel, said Mead was a mentor and that she met her in the 1970s when Mead was a judge on Long Island and she was in high school. Helmer later served a the PSC chairwoman herself, and now is in private law practice.
News of Mead’s death was a sad moment in an otherwise upbeat talk about the current regulatory environment for the state’s energy and telecommunications markets.
Most interesting was that those on the panel generally agreed that with the emergence of wireless telephone and Internet services, New York and other states may eventually cede regulation of the telecommunications industry entirely to the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates wireless services.
Brown noted that Verizon Communications is losing 2,000 land line customers a day. Many of those people are taking up cell phones and smart phones for all their phone calls and Internet service.
“We’re in this transitional stage,” Brown said. “At some point, we will close up shop concerning telecom at the state level. But that is 10 years from now.”
Patricia Acampora, a current PSC commissioner who served as chairwoman from 2006 to 2008, agreed.
“I really see the feds stepping up and we have less to do,” Acampora said. “The technology today is way ahead of us. We’re just catching up to the technology.”
On the energy side, William Flynn, a former PSC chairman who is now in private law practice as well, said he is shocked how some businesses do not advocate for themselves during utility rate cases. The PSC has a process where almost anyone, including individual businesses, can become “stakeholders” in negotiations over rate hikes by gas and electric utilities. He said that is a big mistake, especially for businesses that can be adversely effected by rate hikes.
“They should get involved in the cases,” Flynn said. “But they don’t do it, and I’m amazed that they don’t. They’re not interested until you-know-what hits the fan. Quite frankly, they should be involved from Day 1.”
Larry Rulison can be reached at 518-454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.
