Audio obtained by Courier New York from the 2026 Annual Utilities Credit & Collections Symposium, a private utility industry conference held at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables in Florida, March 16-18, 2026. In the recording, PSEG Long Island collections supervisor Mike Sedlak describes targeting elderly, disabled, and deceased utility customers as revenue opportunities, dismisses New York’s heat wave shutoff protections as “bogus,” and says shutoff threats work because “people think much better in the dark.” Con Edison Manager of Credit and Collections Joe Duggan and National Grid Director of Collections and Payment Processing Jeff Koenig describe how major New York utilities secretly coordinated to weaken those heat protections before state regulators — and hired a consultant to present a unified front to the Public Service Commission. The conference page was scrubbed from the internet after the recordings were first reported. The New York Times and Newsday previously reported on the conference and its fallout. The state’s Department of Public Service opened an investigation into utility collection practices after the comments surfaced. Days later, five New York utilities — including PSEG Long Island, Con Edison, and National Grid — filed nearly identical requests to seal their responses to that investigation.
