A couple weeks ago, the state Public Service Commission released a report that slammed Con Ed over the Queens blackout that left 174,000 people without power for over a week. The PSC wrote that Con Ed "failed to fulfill its responsibilities under Public Service Law." Now, the State Assembly has issued its own report, which one member slipped to the NY Times, and that report takes the Public Service Commission to task as well as Con Ed!
The report quoted a 1932 speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, then the governor of New York, who said that the Public Service Commission “was created for the purpose of seeing that the public utilities do two things: first, give people adequate service; second, charge reasonable rates.”
The task force found that the commission had about 800 employees in 1995, when George E. Pataki began the first of his three terms as governor, and now — partly due to deregulation — has about 550. Nearly 40 percent of the staff is 55 or older and is expected to retire within a decade.
Awesome, now it's "Pataki is the one who blacked out Queens!" We can't wait for the report that blames the Assembly for insufficient oversight of the Public Service Commission. And even at that point, there would still be enough blame to be doled out.
The Assembly's blackout task force recommends that Con Ed should invest in $20 million to upgrade the Long Island City network and increase reimbursements to blackout customers.
And in other disturbing Con Ed news, Consumerist finds it super easy to get Con Ed customers' personal info online.
Photograph of Con Ed's work during the Queens blackout last July from Josh Bousel on Flickr
