While it was being pummeled by public officials for poor performance in recovering from the power outages in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaias, Con Edison reported it had adjusted earnings of $201 million or $0.60 a share for the second quarter of 2020, a $12 million increase from the $189 million or $0.58 a share for the second quarter of 2019.
Adjusted earnings for the first six months of 2020 were $652 million or $1.95 a share compared with $637 million or $1.96 a share for the first six months of 2019.
“We understand the hardship that Tropical Storm Isaias has had on our customers, and we are working around the clock to restore service,” John McAvoy, chairman and CEO of Con Edison, said in a statement releasing the earnings figures on Aug. 6.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had previously announced that an investigation was being launched into the way the state’s utility companies had been operating before, during and after the storm in view of the heavy outages and slow restoration of power.
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said, “I am in complete support of Governor Cuomo’s call for an investigation by the Department of Public Service into the utility companies. I urge them to impose significant financial penalties on Con Ed as a result of their negligence. Truly unacceptable.”
Spano visited several neighborhoods in the city where trees and power lines were down but there were no signs of utility crews.
“After Hurricane Sandy, you would think utility companies would come to terms that this is a new climate we face. Con Ed was not prepared for Tropical Storm Isaias, and Yonkers is left to feel the devastating effects it”™s had on our communities,” Spano said.
“The time is now for real action to take place. Enough is enough. Where is Con Edison? They are not in the city city the way they should be. This has not been planned the way it should have been planned. People here need immediate relief and Con Ed’s got to get here now.”
Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner described a conference call that took place with officials of Con Edison.
“Con Ed is not providing local officials with estimated times when specific sections of locations will be restored,” Feiner said. “They indicated that most people will have power back on by Sunday. But also mentioned that there will be others who will not get their power back until sometime next week.”
Feiner reported that every municipality in Westchester participated in the conference call.
“Greenburgh is one of the hardest hit communities in the county,” Feiner said. “Some Westchester municipalities reported that 75% of their households are still out of power. It’s frustrating because most people haven’t seen any Con Ed trucks responding to the outages. Con Ed does not answer to local governments. Con Ed makes the decisions how many crews will be sent to each community and when restoration will begin.”
As of 5 a.m. today, Con Ed was reporting that it had restored service to more than 217,000 customers in Westchester and New York City. As of 4 a.m., there were 68,628 customers in Westchester still without power, Con Ed reported. In an incident apparently unrelated to the tropical storm, a large section of Manhattan was blacked out this morning.
Con Ed said that it had 1,650 of its own workers in the field, with 819 workers from other states helping and an additional 311 workers due to arrive over the weekend.
Bedford Town Supervisor Chris Burdick reported yesterday that New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) had restored about half of the 6,685 customers it serves in the town with 621 of Con Ed’s 1,053 customers still in the dark. As of 10:15 this morning, Burdick reported that NYSEG said it had restored all of its transmission lines serving the town.
Bedford had set up charging stations at the Bedford Hills train station so that residents could recharge their cellphones and was offering dry ice along with the use of shower facilities at the Bedford Hills Memorial Park.
“If people can have some sense of reliable information about when power is going to be restored, how soon or how long that’s going to take, they can make rational decisions,” Westchester County Executive George Latimer said.
“What you hear, what you see on Facebook, ‘I haven’t seen a Con Ed truck all day. Where are these guys? They must be some place, where are they?’ That lack of confidence, that lack of knowing, makes you presume, they don’t have enough people, they’re not working hard enough. All of those things start to come into play.”
Latimer said that county crews would help municipalities clear trees and debris from roadways as necessary.
Electricity isn’t the only thing that was lost due to the storm. The Optimum cable TV, internet and telephone service experienced extensive outages in Westchester, the Bronx and Long Island according to postings by Optimum customers on various internet bulletin boards.
When asked by the Business Journal about the extent of the outages, number of crews they had at work to restore service and for other details, a spokesman for AlticeUSA, owner of Optimum, replied, “We continue to work to restore service for Optimum customers who were impacted by the severe weather conditions associated with Tropical Storm Isaias. Currently the majority of service issues experienced by customers are related to commercial power outages and we are engaged with the utility companies to ensure service is restored as safely and quickly as possible. We thank our customers for their patience as we work to get everyone back online.”
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said this morning he had phione calls with McAvoy from Con Ed, which also owns Orange and Rockland Utilities, Charles Freni, president and CEO of Central Hudson and Carl Taylor, president and CEO of NYSEG.
“The arrival of Isaias in the middle of a global pandemic devastated an already-recovering Hudson Valley, further magnifying the effects of the crisis and setting the state back in the recovery process,” Schumer said. “Though crews on the ground are working hard throughout the week, many customers are getting inaccurate, little, or no information at all about the ongoing situation.” Schumer said he demanded “to know what the heck is going on, and why so many New Yorkers are left in the dark, both literally and figuratively, three days after the storm and most importantly, get the power back on immediately.” Schumer didn’t say what specific answers he got in reponse to his demands.
We pay Con Edison some of the highest rates in the nation yet Con Edison doesn’t have line crews anymore. How’s that possible? We’d be better served with a different utility company.
Con Edison should be fined every day for every customer without power over 24 hours. $500.00 per day to each short changed user might get their attention. And the money should go to the customers, not the politicians. This would not include all damages for food thrown out and other actual damages from their neglect
As for Cuomo, this is the third time since he became governor that we have had power outages lasting over a week, and he has done NOTHING!