Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the Long Island Power Authority has filed legal action against PSEG Long Island for breach of contract and its performance during and after Tropical Storm Isaias.

Cuomo says the complaint is seeking $70 million in damages for PSEG Long Island's "failure to adequately oversee outage management and communications systems, and for the lack of business continuity plans that would have provided a failsafe option when key systems broke down."

The suit comes after the state Department of Public Service and LIPA's investigation and the department's recommendation to the LIPA Board of Trustees.

The claim says PSEGLI is in breach of obligations with LIPA and seeks damages related to its "inadequate design, implementation and testing of its outage management and communications systems." They say those systems failed during the storm and are asking for an order to PSEG Long Island to fix them.

PSEGLI came under great scrutiny over delays in response to the August storm, with some being left without power for several days. Customers say that attempts to communicate outages with the company were difficult to make.

"LIPA is seeking relief from the courts because we have an obligation to protect customers," says LIPA Chief Executive Officer Tom Falcone. "PSEG Long Island has collected nearly half a billion dollars from Long Island customers over the past seven years while failing to meet its basic obligations."

"Utility companies are beholden to ratepayers, and when that service is inadequate - or as in this case, a complete failure -- those utilities need to be held accountable," says Cuomo. "Utility companies like PSEG Long Island get paid to manage the aftermath of a storm, and time after time they have failed to hold up their end.