WHITE PLAINS, NY — The Westchester County Board of Legislators (BOL) will be considering a resolution tonight at its regular meeting that calls on the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) to thoroughly investigate the response by Consolidated Edison (“Con Ed”) and New York State Electric & Gas (“NYSEG”) following Hurricane Sandy, and also asks the PSC to promulgate new rules for the two electrical utilities regarding their emergency planning, base staffing, reliance on “mutual aid” and other aspects relating to emergency response and power restoration following catastrophic weather events.
Hurricane Sandy hit the metropolitan New York region hard on October 29 and 30, causing widespread power outages in Westchester County and leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without heat and electricity for days afterwards. Both utilities have been roundly criticized for failing to adequately plan and put in place sufficient resources to deal with this devastating storm in a timely fashion, as well as for not having adequate permanent staff in affected areas to handle widespread emergencies that were caused by storms like Sandy.
“Talk is cheap—now we need answers and solid assurances that these two utilities will not let our residents down again in such a manner,” said BOL Majority Leader Pete Harckham (D-Katonah). “We need the Public Service Commission to step up its oversight and work with the utilities to put in place the changes that ensure our residents do not go through another ordeal like they have just experienced.”
Respectively, Con Ed serves 348,198 Westchester County customers and NYSEG serves 32,528 Westchester County customers. Both are considered public service corporations, which means that although they operate without competition (unfortunately leaving customers no alternative for obtaining electricity elsewhere), they still must answer to public oversight and governance.
“In my book, these two utilities have to prepare and respond to storms much better than they do now,” said BOL Minority Leader James Maisano (R-New Rochelle), a co-sponsor of the resolution. “The PSC has to stand committed to pushing the utilities to make real improvements that are enacted immediately, so consumers get the service protections they deserve.”
“While Hurricane Sandy may have caused tremendous damage, many county residents seem to lose their electricity regularly in severe and inclement weather, and the existing length of delays before power is restored is simply unacceptable,” said Legislator MaryJane Shimsky (D-Hastings-on-Hudson), another co-sponsor of the PSC resolution. “The fact that both Con Ed and NYSEG failed to institutionalize and implement lessons learned from Hurricane Irene and other past storms simply emphasizes the need for greater oversight of the two utilities.”
Legislator Shimsky noted that the failure by Con Ed and NYSEG to provide ‘make safe’ crews to every municipality in a timely way, thus allowing local highway crews to clear downed trees on the primary, secondary and tertiary roadways “definitely imperiled lives and safety efforts, and hampered first responders’ ability to deal with emergency calls.”
“Westchester’s residents and business owners suffered mightily because of a woeful response from these two utilities,” said Legislator Michael Kaplowitz (D-Somers), also a sponsor of the resolution. “If their emergency management and response protocols are not up to snuff, then now is the time to improve them.”
The BOL’s resolution also calls on the PSC to order rebates or rate reduction from Con Ed and NYSEG for lost power, spoiled food, loss of revenue from business closures, and other foreseeable losses from the extended power outages.
“A top-to-bottom investigation by the PSC is necessary in order to find out if Con Ed and NYSEG neglected to provide sufficient resources to begin restoration efforts in a timely way, and also whether they failed to adequately communicate with elected officials and customers regarding restoration efforts,” said BOL Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers). “We know that these power outages threatened the health, safety and well being of Westchester residents, especially seniors and those battling medical issues. Let’s learn from this and be ready for the next storms.”
If passed tonight, the BOL’s resolution will be distributed to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the County’s Delegation in the New York State Senate and Assembly, the Commissioners of the New York State Public Service Commission, the Secretary of the New York State Public Service Commission and Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino.
