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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday, Aug. 19 that the state’s Department of Public Service has completed the first phase of its investigation into the utility preparation and restoration efforts in the wake of the wreckage caused by Isaias.
Cuomo said that the Department has sent Notice of Apparent Violation letters to Con Edison, Orange & Rockland Utilities, and Altice-owned Optimum, who all now face steep penalties.
The department has threatened to revoke Con Edison and Orange & Rockland’s franchises if the investigation “deems it appropriate.”
Specifically, DPS cited Con Edison and Orange & Rockland for inaccurate communications, website problems, and inadequate pre-staging; and Central Hudson was cited for inadequate communications capacity at its back-up data center, leading to their website becoming unavailable to customers.
Altice-Optimum apparently did not follow its emergency plan pertaining to generator deployment and communications protocols, among other failures.
Officials are also ordering utility companies statewide to take corrective actions that include:
- Add crewing capacity via retainer contracts from private contractors or utilities located outside of New York, with a goal to be able to secure in advance of a storm double the level of internal linemen and tree crews;
- Test capabilities at all command centers, call centers and back-up command centers to ensure capability to handle an event that affects 90 percent or more of their customers in their service territory and provide confirmation back to the Department regarding the results of this test within 10 days;
- Refine coordination plans with municipalities tailored to each county (road clearing, local liaisons, etc.) and provide to the Department within 20 days a written confirmation from each county Emergency Operations Center that they understand and accept the plan; and
- Update life support equipment and critical infrastructure lists to remove or add customers as identified during Tropical Storm Isaias and file such updated lists to the Department within 10 days.
The department also found several potential violations related to Altice-Optimum's storm response on Long Island, including a failure to coordinate emergency response with local officials, communications failures, and insufficient generator capacity for their network.
The department’s letter demands that Altice-Optimum promptly remedy those issues and provides notice that the investigation will include a review of whether the company is in violation of a 2016 order approving its acquisition of Cablevision.
"The response to tropical storm Isaias by the electric utilities was completely unacceptable. Fifteen days later and we are still hearing complaints from families and businesses," Cuomo said. "With many weeks remaining in the hurricane season, we do not have the luxury of time — utilities must act immediately to fix their broken storm response apparatus, and the Department of Public Service must act more swiftly to hold utilities accountable.
“DFS will help DPS on this investigation because I want a faster and more thorough investigation than they've done in the past, Cuomo continued. “I am also going to propose legislation to facilitate, expedite, and clarify the process for a utility to lose their franchise.
“These utility companies predict when we're going to have storms and when we're going to have emergencies - that's the art form of the business and what we pay them for. They need to do better and we are holding them accountable."
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