Con Edison CEO Burke still has few answers

With scorching temperatures breaking records throughout the city, embattled Con Edison CEO Kevin Burke faced the heat at City Hall on Monday, July 31, with angry City Councilmembers grilling him for nearly three hours about the blackout that left western Queens residents and businesses in the dark for up to 10 days.
As Burke answered questions, councilmembers became increasingly agitated with his responses.
&#8220Today people in my district have two words for Con Edison and they are not ‘thank’ and ‘you,’ they are ‘answers’ and ‘now,’ ” Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. said at the hearings referencing Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s praise of Con Ed while the blackout was going on.
The original power outage in western Queens began on Monday, July 17, and spread to more than 100,000 residents and businesses in parts of Astoria, Sunnyside, Woodside, Hunters Point and Long Island City during the 10-day stretch.
Vallone along with councilmembers Eric Gioia, Speaker Christine Quinn and other members of the Council’s Consumer Affairs Committee probed Burke about the causes of the blackout, Con Ed’s response to the situation and the stability of the network during the current heat wave.
&#8220There is a higher risk in the Long Island City network because of the stress that that network is under,” Burke told reporters following the hearing.
These comments troubled Gioia and Assemblymember Michael Gianaris, who both said they did not want to see a repeat in their district or any area throughout the city.
&#8220I ask every New Yorker to conserve and say a prayer, because I have no faith in Con Edison to keep the power on,” Gioia said.
On Tuesday night, August 1, into Wednesday morning, August 2, customers in western Queens, the rest of the borough and citywide experienced sporadic power outages as Con Ed broke its record for power usage, registering 13,103 megawatts, in demand throughout the city.
Residents on Astoria Boulevard said that the outage began with a bang from wires burning at 29th Street and that Con Ed arrived shortly after the loud sound.
By mid-morning on Wednesday, Anthony Giannola, manager of the Sunoco gas station on Astoria Boulevard said that partial power had been restored to his pumps, but he was hesitant to power up all the machines.
&#8220I’m pumping a little,” he said, as Con Ed crews worked at every corner on the four-block section in Astoria affected by the outages. &#8220But, I can’t do anything because the streets are closed anyway.”
During the hearing, councilmembers continued to push the utility giant to increase their reimbursement plan, which one member referred to as a joke, from the current levels of $350 for perishable items for residents and $7,000 for businesses.
Burke said that he believed the current levels, which he said were significantly higher than those from the blackout in Washington Heights in 1999, were reasonable, but that Con Ed would speak with businesses that lost significantly more money.
Meanwhile, 35 businesses in the affected area announced they would file a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Con Ed to compensate them for spoiled merchandise, lost profits and damaged equipment.
One of the plaintiffs, Frank Arcabascio, who owns the Saloon Hair Salon in Astoria, said he lost tens of thousands of dollars in client revenue during the power outage.
&#8220The damages by Con Ed are so far reaching that we can’t determine them fully yet.”
Burke acknowledged that Con Ed did not understand the magnitude of customers without power until the third day, Thursday, July 27, after crews went up and down the streets in the affected areas and saw more than the original estimate of 2,000 customers without power.
&#8220A 12-year old on his bike could assess the damage better than your multi-million dollar company did, and that is inexcusable,” Vallone said.
The original estimates came from calls Con Ed received from customers who reported they had no power, which councilmembers referred to as an absurd and ridiculous system.
&#8220Clearly that system needs to be improved,” Burke said. &#8220We need to do a much better job of estimating how many customers we have out of service.”
Con Ed was expected to issue a detailed report to the Mayor’s Office on Wednesday, August 2, containing more information about its response to the blackout.
&#8220We don’t plan on withholding anything,” Burke said, after Speaker Quinn urged him to update the Council with weekly reports as more information becomes available.
Gioia, Gianaris and Vallone continued to cast sharp criticism in Burke’s direction and his handling of the crisis.
&#8220My community suffered like no one in this great city should ever have to suffer,” said Vallone, who went on to say, &#8220due to either pathetic incompetence, meaning someone should resign or criminal negligence, which means someone should go to jail.”
Although legislators as well as Con Ed officials remain concerned, they lauded Queens residents for their response during the 10-day blackout.
&#8220They were an example during this crisis of all that is great about New Yorkers,” Quinn said. &#8220What city can say that during a blackout, in the affected area crime did not go up, it went down.”