You are reading

Queens Electeds Call for Full Rebate of August Electricity Bills for Thousands of Customers Who Lost Power

Queens elected officials condemn Con Edison’s restoration efforts, as thousands of borough customers are still without power a week after Tropical Storm Isaias (Assembly Member Nily Rozic/ Twitter)

Aug. 11, 2020 By Allie Griffin

Queens elected officials are calling on Con Edison to provide thousands of Queens customers with rebates after being left without power for days following Tropical Storm Isaias.

Acting Borough President Sharon Lee brought together a consortium of local lawmakers to Borough Hall to condemn the company’s response in restoring power, as nearly 2,500 Queens households still remain without electricity a week after the storm.

“Con Edison failed Queens in the immediate and extended wake of Tropical Storm Isaias, depriving us – at length – the necessary urgency, service and communications that we are owed as customers without a choice,” Lee said.

High gusts of up to 70 miles per hour took down large trees and power lines during the storm last Tuesday and left 73,000 households in Queens without power in the direct aftermath, according to Lee.

“I urge Con Edison to offer immediate and full rebates to the 73,000 Queens customers on this month’s bill to remedy this disproportionate and inequitable restoration,” she said. “It is the very least Con Edison can do.”

Tropical Storm Isaias caused tens of thousands of households in Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island to lose electricity, but the World’s Borough saw the most outages.

Queens electeds said Con Edison’s restoration efforts were not equal across the boroughs.

The representatives slammed Con Edison’s “disproportionate” pace and “inequitable” response in Queens, where less residents had power restored as promptly as the other boroughs.

In the first 48 hours after the storm, the company had only restored 59 percent of outages in Queens versus 89 percent in Brooklyn and 81 percent on Staten Island. The varied response and delay continued over the course of the week.

“Con Edison’s recovery following Tropical Storm Isaias has been inadequate, sporadic and unacceptable,” New York State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky said. “I understand restoring power to 73,000 homes in Queens is a difficult task, but leaving thousands without power nearly a week after the storm is just plain dangerous.”

The lawmakers agreed that the company should be investigated and held accountable. Some also argued that the city should transition to public power, instead of relying on a private company like Con Edison which has a monopoly.

Last Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed the State Department of Public Service to launch an investigation of Con Edison and other New York utilities’ following their response to Tropical Storm Isaias.

“While Queens residents have been left in the dark and at risk, it is clear that ConEd’s woeful inability to handle the City’s power must be investigated,” New York State Assemblymember Nily Rozic said.

Con Edison said the vast majority of customers who lost power due to the storm had it restored by Sunday night.

Crews are continuing to work 24/7 to restore electricity to the outstanding customers, a spokesperson said. The company said this was the worst storm it has faced in this territory, behind Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

“Con Edison is completely focused on restoring power as safely and quickly as possible to every customer,” the company spokesperson said.

“After every major storm event we perform a thorough analysis of what can be improved and we’ll do the same following the second worst storm in the history of our service territory.”

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Dead body of adult woman pulled from the freezing waters off Rockaway Park Friday morning: NYPD

First responders pulled the body of a woman from the frigid waters off Rockaway Park on Friday morning, and investigators are working to determine how she died.

Police from the 100th Precinct in Rockaway Beach responded to a 911 call at 8:44 a.m. reporting a person in the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of Beach 109th Street and Shore Front Parkway, where the body of an adult woman was recovered from the surf, unconscious and unresponsive.

Holden calls out Mayor Adams—will he reopen ICE office on Rikers Island and tackle migrant crime?

One day after Mayor Eric Adams expressed his willingness to collaborate with the incoming Trump administration on addressing the migrant crisis and signaled a readiness to meet with former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) head Tom Homan, Council Member Robert Holden called on the mayor to reopen the ICE office on Rikers Island.

Holden, who represents District 30 in Queens, which encompasses Maspeth, Middle Village, and parts of Glendale, Ridgewood, Elmhurst, and Rego Park, has been advocating for changes to the city’s sanctuary policies since July. In a letter, he previously urged the mayor to roll back laws that restrict local law enforcement agencies—including the NYPD, Department of Correction, and Department of Probation—from cooperating with ICE.

Hall of Famer Lou Carnesecca, legendary St. John’s basketball coach, dies at 99

The St. John’s University community will gather to mourn legendary basketball coach Lou Carnesecca on the Hillcrest campus he loved with all of his heart Friday morning for his Funeral Mass at St. Thomas More Church, where he will be remembered not just for building a dynamic program, but for the way he did it. The beloved coach died peacefully surrounded by family and friends on Saturday, Nov. 30, at age 99 and just five weeks shy of his 100th birthday.

“Throughout his long life, Coach Carnesecca represented St. John’s with savvy, humility, smarts, tenacity, wit, integrity and grace,” SJU President Rev. Brian Shanley said. “He was the public face of our University, and he embodied the values of our Catholic and Vincentian mission. We thank God for his legacy.”