Con Ed Offers Hope

Last night Con Edison vowed that electricity will return tomorrow for many residents of lower Manhattan.   But some of the people now in their fifth day without power may face another week or more of darkness.

Lower Manhattan will have almost all of its power back tomorrow — but it could take another nine days for electricity to be 100 percent restored, Con Ed officials and sources said yesterday. And the “vast majority” of remaining powerless residents — many in the outer boroughs and Westchester — won’t have electricity until Nov. 10. Lastly, some “stragglers” — mostly customers in places served by overhead lines — won’t be restored until the following week, said John Miksad, Con Ed’s senior vice president for electric operations. Given what we know, given the resources we have now, that’s what it looks like,” Miksad said. “Going without power for one day is a rough thing. Going without power for two weeks is unbearable.”

One dissenting source involved in discussions between the state and the utility said the Saturday projection wasn’t completely accurate. “The Con Ed situation is really bad,” the source said, predicting that power won’t fully be restored to lower Manhattan for another nine days. "They’re working on different strategies” to try to get the bulk of the customers back up, the source added. “But the reality is not everyone is going to be back up by this Saturday. “No way. No how.” An “army” of Con Ed work crews and engineers are working to restore power to lower Manhattan by repairing the East 14th Street substation, which was damaged by floodwaters that Sandy pushed up from the East River, Miksad said. At the same time, the company is checking underground transformers and other equipment in the area.