General Gouging Electric

  

Crains New York

New York ratepayers will be on the hook for a $1.2-billion Con Edison project to boost electric grid capacity in southeast Queens. The utility said the new networks and substations will meet the area’s surging demand, partially driven by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s efforts to electrify its bus depots and fleet.

The state Public Service Commission on Thursday approved cost recovery for Con Edison’s Reliable Clean City Idlewild Project. The effort will divide the existing Jamaica network in two and build a pair of substations so that the local grid can meet a surge in demand brought on by New York’s efforts to electrify its transportation and building systems.

Con Edison describes the current Jamaica network as its largest, serving more than 162,000 customers, including transportation hubs such as John F. Kennedy International Airport, the Long Island Railroad’s Jamaica Station and at least four major MTA bus depots. In the utility’s petition to state regulators, it claimed that without the investment, demand during times of peak usage would exceed what the network was designed to handle by 2026.

In a statement, PSC Chair Rory Christian backed the utility’s project “to promote the transition to a clean-energy economy while ensuring the reliability of the electric grid overall.”

Typically, the need for major utility upgrades are hashed out as part of the regular rate case process for utilities, but because Con Edison raised the need for load relief at the end of last year’s rate case, the utility was allowed to file a separate petition.

PSC commissioner Diane Burman, who voted against the expense, said the investment should have been scrutinized as part of the rate case process. She similarly took issue with the need for state customers to foot the bill for upgrades primarily supporting MTA and JFK projects.

“If these were customers that were private developers, we would probably be having a more detailed conversation on the cost allocation that they needed to pony up rather than being borne solely by the ratepayers,” Burman said during the vote. She added that it’s not “sustainable” for ratepayers to bear the bulk of the costs of electrifying New York’s economy moving forward.

 

Mayor Adams finally takes incremental action against lithium-ion batteries, partners with Con Ed for charging stations at public housing buildings

 Queens Chronicle

Two e-bike batteries exploded in the back of a Richmond Hill repair shop on Monday, starting a blaze that sent two firefighters to the hospital.

The batteries were charging in the back of The Kings Electric Scooters store, which is located at 102-44 Jamaica Ave. and leads out onto 87^th Avenue, when they combusted around 2:30 p.m, officials believe.

Bab Chung, who owns an adjacent building, was out cleaning up debris this morning. Employees of the store were charging two batteries and they both exploded at same time, Chung told the Chronicle.

The FDNY received the call for reports of a fire in the e-bike store, which is located in a two-story, mixed occupancy building, and elevated it to a two-alarm fire about 20 minutes later. It was under control by 3:30 p.m., according to the agency.

Twenty-five units responded, including 106 fire and EMS responders. Two firefighters sustained minor injuries and were transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. 

The flames roared through the first floor of the building and destroyed at least one residence. Carmen Charles, who lives above the store, told ABC 7 that she has “nowhere to go” and that everything is gone. 

“Another day, another major fire caused by lithium-ion batteries,” Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) wrote on Twitter. “It is well past the time to enforce common sense legislation regulat[ing] the sale of these batteries.”

Last week, the City Council introduced a bill that would regulate the batteries and enforce the regulations.

Earlier this month, top public safety officials met for a safety briefing and FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh addressed the ongoing dangers posed by the lithium-ion batteries that power the devices. Officials reported then that there were over 22 fires and 35 injuries so far this year.

 AMNY  

While signing five bills designed to combat an ongoing scourge of fires linked to faulty batteries found in e-bikes and e-scooters, used by most delivery workers, Mayor Eric Adams on Monday released his own plan to combat the blazes.

During a news conference at City Hall on Monday morning, the mayor remarked on just how dangerous these battery-associated fires can be, as they spread faster than other fires and are harder to extinguish.

“They’re not just regular fires, they’re basically explosions and they spread so rapidly,” Adams said. “They spread so rapidly, and it [takes] more than just water to put them out. It’s a very complicated fire.”

The battery-linked infernos doubled between 2021 and 2022 — rising from 104 to 216 fires in one year — with injuries also doubling, and six people dying last year. They’ve already caused two deaths and 40 injuries in the first two months of this year, according to the mayor’s office.

The most notable Adam signed, which passed the council earlier this month, would ban the sale, lease or rental of e-bike and e-scooter batteries that fail to meet industry safety standards — chiefly standard 2771 established by Underwriters Laboratories.

The mayor also signed legislation requiring the FDNY and the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to develop a public information campaign on e-bike and scooter battery safety, directing both agencies to provide materials on the safe storage of the batteries and for FDNY to annually report on fires connected to the power cells.

“We need to make sure that products sold in our city are safe for New Yorkers,” said Council Member Oswald Feliz (D-Bronx), who sponsored the bill banning the sale of unregulated batteries and whose district was home to the massive Twin Parks fire that killed 17 people last year.

“We were proud to work on a very thorough package of fire safety legislation, including legislation that will require that these batteries be certified in order to be sold,” he added. “Requiring these batteries go through fire safety checks, to make sure that they have tools that prevent overheating, overcharging and other things that we’ve seen cause fires.”

 Con Edison

Con Edison and the New York City Housing Authority will place chargers and storage for e-bikes and e-scooters at NYCHA developments to see how much riders like the concept.

The chargers and secure storage areas will be at four developments in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn under the demonstration project that Mayor Eric Adams announced today.

The project will test whether the use of e-bikes and e-scooters would increase if New Yorkers had suitable charging and storage. Increasing the use of these devices would reduce reliance on fossil fuel-powered transportation, meaning cleaner air and safer streets.

The partners also want to determine whether providing safe, secure charging and storage outdoors would reduce indoor charging, which can be dangerous.

It’s also a test of a business model. Con Edison will gather information from the chargers to see how many unique riders use them, how long riders use the chargers and the times of day when riders charge. In addition, the company will determine the amount of carbon that would been emitted if the users had driven passenger cars instead of their micromobility devices. 

“As electric bikes and scooters grow in popularity, we want to explore ways to ensure that New Yorkers have access to safe, convenient charging and secure storage,” said Raghu Sudhakara, vice president, Distributed Resource Integration, for Con Edison. “Making micromobility safer and easier will be a plus for the many hard-working people who earn their living delivering food to our homes and businesses. Our demonstration project with NYCHA will provide us with information on how we can support these forms of transportation, which provide environmental benefits, convenience and enjoyment when used safely.”

“The safety of NYCHA residents is our chief priority and central to the work we do every day,” said NYCHA Interim CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt. “We are pleased to partner with Con Edison on this pilot program, which will provide NYCHA residents with a safe outdoor charging and storage alternative, while supporting the growth of this sustainable mode of transportation." 

The first chargers and storage areas will be at these NYCHA developments: Queensbridge North and South in Queens, De Hostos in Manhattan, and Van Dyke I in Brooklyn. The parties hope to begin the demonstration project by the end of this year.

Con Edison has posted a request for information, a step toward finding a vendor to provide and operate the chargers once they are installed. Con Edison and the chosen vendor will visit the NYCHA developments and determine how many chargers to place at each site.

The goal is to provide chargers that will accommodate all e-bikes and e-scooters, regardless of the manufacturer.

Along with environmental benefits, micromobility devices contribute to urban quality of life in other ways. They are quiet and reduce traffic congestion.

Electric micromobility devices are an affordable alternative to cars for low-income New Yorkers, many of whom have jobs delivering food or other goods to customers throughout the city. But food delivery app companies usually do not provide workers with transportation devices.

That has resulted in many workers using their own devices to make deliveries to New Yorkers and charging those devices in their apartments.

Con Edison and the chosen vendor will seek charging locations that are away from residences. The locations will be designated in accordance with Fire Department of New York guidelines for safety.

Con Edison urges anyone using a lithium ion battery to make sure the battery has been certified by UL or another safety testing lab, comply with FDNY safety rules, use only charging cables that the manufacturer recommends, and stop using a battery that is damaged. The FDNY offers these and other safety tips. The National Fire Protection Association also offers safety advice for lithium ion batteries.

Cons hack Con Ed

 

SI Advance

 Savvy scammers are using popular payment apps like CashApp, Venmo and Zelle to steal city residents’ money by threatening of utility cutoffs if demands are not met.

Con artists are calling the company’s customers and telling them they need to make an immediate payment using one of the apps or risk having service slashed from their homes, Con Edison announced in a release.

The company said it does not accept payments via payment platforms and does not demand immediate payment. If residents receive a call requesting a bill payment through these apps, they should hang up the phone.

“The emergence of payment apps as the favorite method of scammers shows how inventive these people are,” said James Duggan, a department manager in Con Edison’s Corporate Security group. “They never stop looking for dirty tricks they can use to steal from our customers. We want to be just as relentless in urging our customers to recognize signs that someone is a scammer.”

In 2021 alone, scammers have received more than $550,000 from Con Edison customers, though the company noted the problem is likely to be more widespread as many people who are targeted do not file complaints.

Con Edison said it continues to receive calls daily from customers who were targeted by impostors claiming to be from the company.

The slick scam artists use technology capable of making a Con Edison phone number show up on the resident’s caller ID, the company said. Both residential and business customers are targeted, while Spanish-speaking customers often receive calls from scammers fluent in the language.

In addition to newer payment app techniques, scammers also continue to use well-known tactics against Con Edison customers, including attempts to get residents to buy a pre-paid card to avoid service turnoff.

The company said it has even received reports of scammers claiming the payment did not go through before demanding another payment — causing customers to send multiple payments totaling thousands of dollars to a scammer.

Queens is still the most powerless days after the hurricane

Gothamist

While crews with Con Edison have made progress restoring power to the five boroughs following the wind-related outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias, more than 33,000 customers remain powerless in the five boroughs. And they're not expected to get their electricity back until 11 p.m. on Sunday night.

Manhattan stands as the only borough where full service has been restored to Con Edison's customers, according to a press release Con Edison sent out early this morning. Queens holds the largest number of outages with 19,000, with the Bronx at 9,700, Staten Island with 3,200, and Brooklyn with 1,400 customers still out. In Westchester County, 53,000 customers remain without service.

The storm on Tuesday packed a wallop, bringing gusty winds of 70 miles per hour in New York that caused widespread outages. At the height of the blackout, some 300,000 customers were left without power. That prompted Con Edison officials to deem the outage is the second worst next to Superstorm Sandy.

Con Edison has enlisted the help of outside utility companies to help restore power, with 1,230 contractors working alongside the 1,700 Con Edison workers. They say crews have been working "84 straight hours" since the storm hit, clearing out downed trees that became entangled in wires.

The New York City Office of Emergency Management has been managing tree removals across the city.

"Queens specifically has been the hardest hit," said OEM commissioner Deanne Criswell of the downed trees. "Right now, we have over 1500 people working on clearing trees across the city, and 153 of those are in Queens. We're continuing to bring in additional resources, and reassigning some of of other personnel from city agencies to help support the tree removal efforts."

Flushing, Bayside, Astoria, and Woodside are being given priority to have downed trees cleared. It will take next week to have all those trees removed.

The restoration also came when a pop-up blackout knocked out electricity to 180,000 customers on Friday morning. The incident--which cut off power to 187,000 customers in the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, and Harlem in Manhattan, and 77,000 customers in Maspeth, Queens.

Update:

CBS New York's report from Woodhaven, one of the men at the end of the video says it all about the city's and Con Ed's response.

Con Ed telling Midwest Queens residents to stand the heat.

Con Edison

Con Edison is asking customers in certain neighborhoods in Queens to conserve energy while company crews repair equipment. Con Edison has also reduced voltage by 8 percent in the area as a precaution to protect equipment and maintain service as crews make repairs.

The area is bounded by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and 51st Avenue on the north, the Jackie Robinson Parkway on the south, Queens Boulevard on the east, and the Brooklyn borough line on the west.

The area includes 116,300 customers in the neighborhoods of Glendale, Forest Hills, Forest Hills Gardens, and Middle Village. Con Edison has asked customers in the area not to use energy-intensive appliances such as washers, dryers, microwaves and, if not needed for health or medical reasons, air conditioners, until the equipment problems are resolved.

Customers can report outages and check service restoration status at  
www.conEd.com/reportoutage, or with our mobile app for iOS or Android devices, or by calling 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633). When calling, customers should report whether their neighbors also have lost power. Customers who report outages will receive updates with their estimated restoration times as they become available.

Customers can follow Con Edison on Twitter or like us on Facebook for general outage updates, safety tips and storm preparation information.

The equipment problems in these neighborhoods have no effect on the rest of the Con Edison system.

Con Edison will provide updates to affected customers directly and through the media as the situation warrants. The company is in communication with New York City Emergency Management.


 Excuse me, but can't other "certain neighborhoods" conserve some energy too?

 

 

 

NYC Parks and Con Edison are being hard on Ron Jeremy's tree

NBC 4 New York

 Adult film star Ron Jeremy is fighting to save a tree his father planted outside their New York home the day he was born.

Jeremy took to Twitter on Saturday, saying that utility Con Edison was going cut down the tree that was planted in Queens in 1953. 

The tweet includes a 2018 photo of Jeremy hugging the tree outside the home on Bell Boulevard in Bayside.

Jeremy, who has been staying at a Hollywood hotel during the coronavirus pandemic, told the New York Daily News that a neighbor let him know the trunk was wrapped in yellow tape last week.

“I looked after that tree all my life. They tried to chop the tree down years ago but I wouldn’t let them,” Jeremy said. “I even belted myself to the tree.”

 The tree is on city property, and the Parks Department can choose to remove it, according to Con Edison, who replied to Jeremy's tweet. It is up to the city to decide whether to remove the tree to avoid any potential damage it may cause to surrounding power lines.

Con Edison will gouge New York residents electric and gas bills for the next three years

Gothamist


Con Edison, the privately owned utility company that theoretically powers our city, has reportedly resolved to raise rates beginning January 1: Under the proposal, electric would go up 13 percent over the next three years, while gas would jump an astounding 25 percent. Hm well, at least you know you're getting solid and uniformly reliable service for all those extra dollars you're paying out; at least you know that this added, unavoidable expenditure will be Worth It in the long run!

Here is a breakdown of the average rate hikes, which would vary somewhat depending on customers' electricity and gas consumption. Most of you would be looking at a roughly 4.2% rise in 2020, followed by a 4.7% increase in 2021, and a 4% bump in your electric bills for 2022. As for gas, the average bill would jump 7.5% in 2020, 8.8% in 2021, and 7.2% in 2022.

Many people are displeased with this scheme, which stands to make already burdensome monthly payments significantly more expensive. AARP has already filed its grievances with the state Public Service Commission, pointing out that, as it stands, "tens of thousands" of customers find themselves unable to pay their utility bills and see their services cut every year.

"We think it’s an unfair rate hike,” AARP lobbyist Bill Ferris told the NY Daily News: “We have a problem in New York State with energy affordability.” With everything affordability, some would say!

Con Edison intentionally shuts off all power in Southeast Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods

PIX 11 News

 Looks like Gothamist thought my headline was good.

Three towns in Staten Island got blacked out from Con Ed substation fire

NY Post


Power outages hit Staten Island Tuesday evening when a fire erupted at a Con Edison substation — just days after mass outages hit tens of thousands of customers on the West Side of Manhattan, officials said.

About 2,000 Con Edison customers in New Dorp, Grant City and Oakwood lost power after the fire at the facility on Railroad Avenue soon after 6 p.m., a Con Ed spokesperson said.

The outages are scattered across about a five-mile radius of the substation and are expected to last until about 2 a.m., the spokesperson said, adding that two generators were working to reinforce the system.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it is not believed to be related to the heat, he said.

After being opaque about the cause of Saturday's blackout, Con Ed is being glib about potential blackouts

NY Post


Con Edison warned Monday that New Yorkers may have to endure another blackout this weekend, when the temperature is expected to reach a sweltering 97 degrees — and feel like 106.

“We expect that there could be service outages — those things happen during heat waves,” company spokesman Mike Clendenin said.

Later in the day, Con Ed further fueled fears of a potential power outage when it completely backtracked and blamed a fault in a 13,000-volt power cable that caught fire for triggering Saturday’s blackout.

On Sunday, company President Timothy Cawley had called the idea of tying the incident to the failed cable “sort of a non-starter.”

AccuWeather predicted four straight days of 90-plus degree temperatures beginning Friday, with a 97-degree peak on Saturday, when humidity and other factors will make it feel even worse.

Surely, these things happen and will continue to happen when you have energy devouring billboards like the new ones in Times Square that are about 3, 5 and 20 stories and are a block wide. And also deriving from massive tower development by the Hudson, particularly the brand new Hudson Yards.

How is Con Ed going to handle Google's expansion and Disney's new studios on Soho's west side?

Maybe this is why they are being glib. Con Ed's VP for "government relations" used to work for the city's Economic Development Coporation. (Thanks to Kristin Theodos)