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.
