Con Edisonready for summer

Con Edison acknowledged that it let its western Queens customers down last summer during the 10-day blackout, but said it has learned from last year’s debacle and is ready for this summer.
Speaking at a recent Queens College Business Forum breakfast, John Miksad, Senior Vice President of Electric Operations for Con Edison said that the company has invested more than $90 million into the Long Island City network since last summer and has plans to build a new substation near the Sunnyside Yards.
The substation, which is expected to cost approximately $150 million and open in 2011, would split the Long Island City network into two smaller networks allowing the company to manage and monitor the network more closely. The utility giant has already added two new feeders to the network, inspected more than 6,000 structures, 25 miles of cable and 101 transformers.
“There is a lot of work going on to make sure that this system is ready not just for this summer, but staying ahead of the growth we are talking about going forward.”
Plans are already in the works to purchase land for a new substation in Jamaica as well as to build a switching station in Jamaica, which could open as soon as 2014, according to a spokesperson for Con Edison.
In addition to the technical improvements to the Long Island City network, Miksad also discussed a number of initiatives designed to improve communications between customers during emergencies.
The company has added more telephone operators, who would call back customers who leave a message to report outages, more customer assessment teams and customers outreach vans as well as allowing customers to report outages on its web site.
During his presentation, Miksad trumpeted that Con Edison would spend $1.4 billion on preparing for the future throughout the city in 2007. He cited areas in Long Island City and Flushing as two Queens neighborhoods the company was focusing on with multiple, major development projects beginning in those areas.
In addition to Miksad, State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky and City Councilmember John Liu addressed the business leaders in attendance, focusing on the important role the business community plays in education.