Results tagged “steampipeexplosion”

Con Edison has agreed to pay $24 million in damages caused by the steam pipe explosion near Grand Central Station last year. Con Ed will not pass along any of those costs to customers and in addition agreed to return to customers anything beyond $24 million that it wins in pending legal settlements related to the explosion. City Councilman Eric Giola spoke out in favor of the settlement saying Con Ed's “mistakes and bad management don’t just cost New Yorkers money, they also cost lives.”

Notwithstanding a massive steam explosion that horribly burned some New Yorkers and shut down a large section of midtown Manhattan for weeks, neighborhood blackouts that have left thousands in the dark and without air conditioning in the heat of summer, and occasional stray voltage leaks that have electrocuted people and pets, Mayor Bloomberg feels that Con Ed is doing a decent job and customers should be willing to pay extra each month to the utility. Aides insist that Bloomberg wasn't formally endorsing a $1.2 billion rate hike, which would boost customers' bills by an average of 17%. He was just pointing out that the company doesn't make that much money and that it needs additional funds to upgrade the city's energy infrastructure.