CON ED CUSTOMERS WARY

BY CHRISTINA SANTUCCI

Thursday, July 5, 2007 3:15 PM EDT

Con Edison blamed severe storms, strong lightning and inclement weather for blackouts in Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchester County recently.

On Wednesday, June 27, “strong lightning” hit a substation in Astoria and caused an outage, which affected 136,700 customers - roughly 385,000 people - in the northwest Bronx and Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Power returned to most customers within 48 minutes, but later on in the evening, a round of thunderstorms knocked down trees and telephone poles in Queens. About 9,500 customers throughout the borough - most in the southeast neighborhoods of Springfield Gardens, Cambria Heights, Hollis, and Jamaica - were without power as of 10 p.m. on Wednesday. Service was restored to most by the following morning, said Con Ed spokesperson Chris Olert.

Dozens of extra work crews were deployed to restore power to the storm-affected areas, Olert said, explaining that customers called in and went to the company's web site to report the blackouts. In addition, Con Ed sent employees to scout the outages.

Life-long Middle Village resident Bob Holden was sitting at his computer, looking at his students' graphic design projects on Thursday, June 28, when all of a sudden his screen went dark.

“Bang, there was a big clap,” he described the thunderstorm and subsequent power outage. “The power immediately went out and stayed out.”

Throughout the neighborhoods of Middle Village and Maspeth, 5,743 customers lost power, starting at 3:23 p.m. For about half, their electricity returned within the hour, and all customers were back online by 5:29, Olert said.

“It's just the beginning of the summer season, and the last thing you want to see is power outage,” said City Councilmember Dennis Gallagher, who represents Middle Village and Maspeth. “However, I do have to say that Con Ed was very responsive this time.”

Olert credited a customer in Middle Village who called in immediately after power went down and said that lightning struck the utility company's equipment nearby to 74th Street and Caldwell Avenue.

“Our crews were able to go there, find the problem quickly, and get everything back quickly,” Olert said.

Holden, who serves as the President of the Juniper Park Civic Association, waited an hour for his lights to go back on and then headed to his office at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) to work.

Astoria politicians - Councilmembers Peter Vallone, Jr. and Eric Gioia as well as Assemblymember Michael Gianaris - also blasted the power company for what they believe is little effort to prepare for increased energy consumption expected this summer.

“Northwestern Queens and almost every other area of the city have gone through huge phases of development, and Con Ed has not upgraded its system to keep up with that,” Vallone said, explaining that he predicted a blackout at a hearing with Con Ed on Monday, June 25.

“To blame the last blackout on a minor storm is downright scary because we have these storms all the time,” he said.

Nevertheless, Olert said that the company could not control the weather and has added a lot of upgraded equipment since the 10-day blackout last year.

Throughout the five boroughs and Westchester, Con Ed has spent $1.49 billion in upgrades. The Long Island City network received $90 million of the funds, which went to 120 transformers, two new primary feeders, 25 miles of secondary underground cables, and micro-processing relays to improve detection of problems.

“Con Edison's system is more reliable than other systems around the country,” Olert said.

However, Gianaris wondered if central and eastern Queens neighborhoods would have power problems this summer after increased attention was given to the northwest.

“If Con Ed has done what it claims to have done in Long Island City, then the real problem is in other neighborhoods,” Gianaris said. “I say, ‘hope for the best and prepare for the worst.'”

“I think that most of the elected officials, given what happened last year, are concerned and are working with OEM [the Office of Emergency Management] to make sure that people are protected in case of a power outage,” Gallagher said.

Olert said that Con Ed customers could employ several techniques to save power and lower their electric bill at the same time.

For example, eight percent more power is used for every degree an air conditioner is set below 78, and using a fan can save 10 times as much electricity.

When asked if the company was prepared for the coming months, Olert said, “We are absolutely ready for the summer.”