ConEd, NYSEG Talk Response Times, Power Outages in Yorktown

The following is a summary of the Emergency Storm Respose Round Table. Please click here if you would like to  read a more detailed account of the discussion.

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Utility representatives, elected officials and first responders discussed the important topic of response times and how to better handle power outages at a roundtable at Yorktown Town Hall on Thursday morning.

Representatives from New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG), Consolidated Edison (ConEd), Central Hudson, Yorktown Police and Fire Department, Northern Westchester Hospital, and a host of elected officials from across the region were at the conference, hosted by New York State Senator Greg Ball (R-C Patterson).

"This is not a pep rally or hearing to attack the utility companies or first responders," Ball said. "This is about figuring out what went wrong and implementing change so we can all work together to prevent future outages."

Hurricane Irene in August and the Nor’easter snowstorm in October caused major power outages throughout Westchester, Putnam counties and the state. After the October storm, tens of thousands of ConEd and NYSEG customers were without power for days with inaccurate "estimated restoration times" and, for many, no where to go.

The group discussed how to prepare for guaranteed power outages and how to decrease the large number of outages that crippled the area.

"I think periodic conversation to get feedback from local municipalities specifically fire, police and DPW is very important and I am glad we got to talk directly to them because they do as much as we do during storms,” ConEd representative Steven Parisi said. 

Some of the ideas broached were to have personnel mobilized and in place before storms hit and to have a Direct Municipal liaison in order to get work orders logged into the system and taken care of as soon as possible. Participants also suggested that first responders have a direct line of communication with utilities and be able to speak to the same individual as when initial calls are made for consistency and follow-ups.

The idea of burying power lines was raised and ConEd officials said that would cost the consumer would be three to five times as much as they are currently paying for electricity.

Participants suggested that the utilities implement a better "estimated time of restoration" system and more accurate outage logging. The utility companies were amenable to the idea of putting into practice a follow-up system on areas that have recurring problems.  

Two other issues that came up were the shortage of dry ice, which was a problem after both storms and caused food spoilage. The participants also recommended that more meetings be held between the three groups at the round table: elected officials, utilities and on the ground municipal personnel (police, fire department, ambulance corps).

"We appreciate that Sen. Ball included the first responders ‘the boots on the ground’ into the discussion," said Larry Eidelman, public safety officer from the Yorktown Police Department. "If there are even one or two changes in the policy that come out of this it was a great success."

"It’s all about lessons learned and I am a firm believer of that, having been in this business thirty years," NYSEG representative Dave Foss said. "Hopefully we can build off this and continue to get better."

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The following is a summary of the Emergency Storm Respose Round Table. Please click here if you would like to  read a more detailed account of the discussion.