Jan 30, 2007 7:58 pm US/Eastern
Task Force Tells Con Ed To Modernize Equipment
QUEENS (CBS/AP) ―
The local electric utility should invest $20 million to develop state-of-the-art equipment for a neighborhood where a blackout left more than 100,000 people without power last summer or face the danger of future outages, according to a report released Tuesday by a state Assembly task force.
The report also took a shot at a state regulatory commission for not effectively overseeing "an aging and inefficiently maintained network grid."
In addition, the 55-page report said, the utility, Consolidated Edison, failed to compensate Queens residents and businesses for millions of dollars in damage and lost wages during the blackout, which lasted more than a week.
Con Edison issued a statement Tuesday acknowledging that its performance last summer "was not up to the standards our customers have come to expect, nor did it meet the expectations we have set for ourselves."
But the utility said it was learning from that experience and "implementing many infrastructure improvements and new emergency response procedures."
The eight-member bipartisan task force, which includes three Democratic Assembly members from Queens, suggested that Con Edison spend $20 million over three years to create a Network of the Future pilot project within the Long Island City network, including a test bed to demonstrate state-of-the-art technologies modeled on the proposed RECO Smart Grid pilot for Ramsey, N.J.
Task force members said it's not the first time state authorities have warned the utility, which operates as a virtual monopoly after deregulation. A 1999 report by the state attorney general offered recommendations after a blackout in northern Manhattan.
A more competitive market would be an incentive for Con Ed to modernize, the report said, adding that other companies should be allowed to offer proposals to manage the electricity distribution network.
But legislators on the task force did not fault only the utility company. They also found blame with regulators at the state Public Service Commission for failing to adequately monitor Con Edison's performance.
The commission staff, which oversees electricity, gas and telecommunications utilities, was cut by about one-third under former Gov. George Pataki, and many staff members had relatively little or no experience in utilities. The task force recommended that state law be changed to require commissioners to have a utilities background.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer has nominated Angela M. Sparks-Beddoe, president of Energy East Management Corp., in Saratoga Springs, to chair the commission.
A commission spokesman in Albany, Jim Denn, said he had no immediate comment on the task force's charges, pending a review of its report.
On Jan. 17, the commission issued its own scathing report on the July 2006 outage, concluding that Con Edison had failed to adequately maintain and operate its network.
The utility's handling of the blackout during a suffocating heat wave was "a gross disservice to its customers," and Con Edison management "failed or refused to comprehend the magnitude of the crisis," the commission said.
Equipment failures beset Con Edison's network in Long Island City and in Westchester County after temperatures in the 90s engulfed the region. Business losses ran into the tens of millions of dollars as stores threw out perished goods.
Con Edison had said the blackout was caused by three unrelated incidents, but the commission suggested the scope of the disaster could have been reduced if company officials had taken action previously.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
