Richard Kessel

Richard M. Kessel (born c. 1950) is a power industry executive who was formerly President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Power Authority, the largest state-owned public utility company in the United States. Kessel started as a consumer advocate who led the opposition to the construction and operation of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant constructed by the Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO). He was appointed as chief executive and later chairman of the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), which oversaw the public takeover of LILCO in 1998 and the decommissioning of the Shoreham plant. Kessel has been variously described by The New York Times as someone who started out as a "constant noodge, attacking perceived wrongs and demanding changes" who later became an "exuberant executive with a hands-on approach".

He served as the Executive Director of the New York State Consumer Protection Board from 1983 to 1995, where he negotiated rate freeze agreements with Consolidated Edison, Niagara Mohawk and other electric and telephone utilities, which Kessel estimated saved consumers $1 billion.

In 1989, Kessel was appointed by then-Governor Mario Cuomo to become the chairman of the Long Island Power Authority. He led the negotiations on the decommissioning of the Shoreham nuclear power plant, which had been constructed at a total cost of $5.5 billion and had never generated any commercial power. In February 1992, he handed over a $1 bill to purchase the Shoreham facility from the Long Island Lighting Company and oversaw its decommissioning and the shipment of its nuclear fuel off of Long Island. He left his spot as chairman in 1995 and remained as a trustee of LIPA, returning to the chairmanship in 1997 when he was reappointed by then-Governor George Pataki.

He was responsible for the LIPA's May 1998 takeover of LILCO, funded by a $7 billion offering in municipal bonds, then the largest sale of such bonds in the United States. Upon the takeover, LIPA cut rates for electricity by 20%, followed by refund checks of $101 to each Suffolk customer and $232 to each customer in Nassau and the portions of Queens served by LILCO.

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