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Community Corner

Abinanti: Con Ed's Westchester Response a Failure

New York Assemblyman Tom Abinanti writes about the post-Sandy response in Westchester.

 

The following is from New York State Assemblyman Tom Abinanti:

“Con Ed’s response to Sandy in Westchester was wholly inadequate—a management fiasco” said Westchester Assemblyman Tom Abinanti (D, 92nd AD) as he called for an immediate change in Con Ed’s management team and then the decertification of Con Ed for Westchester County.

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“In the short run, we need new Con Ed management who will work with local governments to clean up and restore power to our communities,” stated the Westchester Assemblyman.  “In the long run, we need to unplug Con Edison and replace it with a new power provider for Westchester only.”

Abinanti has sent a letter to Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino requesting that the County of Westchester Public Utility Service Agency (COWPUSA) immediately initiate proceedings before the New York State Public Service Commission to decertify Con Ed in Westchester County.  He noted that “Con Ed’s response to Sandy is just another example of Con Ed’s long term neglect of Westchester’s residents and businesses.”

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“While we were fortunate to escape the devastation in other parts of the metropolitan area, we have been way behind in power restoration,” stated Abinanti. “ Con Ed’s daily reports show that Westchester customers, who constitute less than 10% of Con Ed’s customers, have consistently been  40-60% of the total remaining outages.”

Abinanti notes that Con Ed’s response was “a poor plan, poorly executed.”  He commended Con Ed employees on the street, but said “there have been far too few of them.”  He highlighted Con Ed’s continuing failure to coordinate with local governments who have been far ahead of Con Ed in their storm response. He criticized Con Ed’s failure to inform the public and meet the public’s needs.

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