Power Returns To Much Of Downtown NYC

After five days, electricity was restored this evening to parts of downtown Manhattan, almost a full day ahead of yesterday's forecast by Con Edison. According to Miss Twitter, folks were literally dancing in the LIT streets of Chelsea, the Flatiron, the East Village, Chinatown, Soho, and parts of the Lower East Side.  Con Ed tweets this disclaimer: "For all in networks that have been restored who are still out- your building likely has H2O/wind damage that building manager must repair before restoration."  The West Village, where flooding was more severe on the blocks near the Hudson River, remains dark, as do portions of other Manhattan neighborhoods.

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.

Con Ed Posts Outage Update

From the storm update on Con Edison's site:

More than 650,000 customers in New York City and Westchester County lost electrical power due to Hurricane Sandy, Con Edison said early today. "This is the largest storm-related outage in our history," said Con Edison Senior Vice President for Electric Operations John Miksad. The previous record was more than 200,000 customers affected by Hurricane Irene in 2011. Miksad cautioned crews must assess damage prior making to repairs, but early today low-lying areas of New York City and Westchester County remained under water. Challenges include, for example, more than 200 wires down on Staten Island. In Westchester County, more than 180 roads are closed. Restoring electrical service to underground equipment demands cleaning all components of sea water, drying and testing to make it safe to restore power.

A spokesman from Con Ed spoke to local television by phone this morning, advising those currently without power that it may be several days before repairs can commence in some areas. Last night's transformer explosion in the East Village may take over a week to repair and lower Manhattan residents should plan accordingly. Those who can take temporary refuge with friends or family should consider doing so.

ConEd To NYC: Brace For Outages

Con Edison is robo-calling New York City customers with a warning that they may cut the power if it appears that underground equipment will be flooded.  A similar advisory has appeared on their website:

The company is preparing for the possibility that it will have to shut down underground electrical equipment if the storm surge floods low-lying areas, such as parts of lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Shutting down underground equipment may avoid extensive damage to company and customer equipment, and allow company crews to restore power to customers more quickly. In the event of major flooding, the company would have to wait for flood waters to recede before workers could enter some facilities to begin assessing damage. As equipment is inspected and determined safe to energize, the highest priority for restoration will be given to critical customer facilities that have an impact on the general public such as mass transit, hospitals, police and fire stations, and sewage and water-pumping stations.

I'm quite close to a huge row of major hospitals, so I might luck out.  But at least I'll be among the first to get service back.

Relief Is On The Way, NYC

All-time heat records are tumbling once again today, but Gothamites will see relief within 48 hours when (allegedly) we'll see a 25-degree drop in the daily high. For now, Con Ed, whose union workers are still locked out in a contract dispute, is calling on customers to cut back on "unnecessary" power usage. (Via JMG reader Mike)

Con Ed Locks Out NYC Union

Con Edison has locked out more than 8000 New York City workers after union negotiations broke down early yesterday.

The workers, members of the utility’s largest union, were locked out after their contract expired at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, and talks broke down less than two hours later. About 5,000 managers, including some former union members, will step in to keep the utility running, Con Ed said. But union leaders warned that those managers, who they said included retired supervisors called back to work, might not have the numbers or the training to keep up if the hot weather and the increased demand for air-conditioning created major power failures.

The head of Local 1-2 responded: "What they said last night to the people of New York was, ‘Drop dead.’"

NYC's Con Ed Union Threatens Strike

As the temperature in New York City again teases the triple-digit mark, the local Con Ed union says it may go on strike at midnight tonight.

Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers Union of America vows to strike if it can’t reach a deal by midnight, when its current four-year contract expires. Both sides were far apart yesterday on pay, pension and health-insurance issues, said union spokesman John Melia. Con Ed said in a statement that it was confident it could reach a deal “that is fair and equitable for our employees and customers." Yesterday, the mercury hit 97 degrees at La Guardia Airport at 4 p.m. — but with the humidity’s punch, it felt like 103, said AccuWeather.com meteorologist John Dlugoenski.

The NYFD has warned residents against opening fire hydrants and is offering hydrant spray-caps at the city's fire stations. Con Ed union officials warn that a strike may result in power outages.

"If [Chief Executive] Kevin Burke persists in failing to engage in meaningful discussions and forces a work disruption, the system shows every indication that it will not be able to hold up in another heat wave," said Harry Farrell, president of Local 1-2. "There will be outages, and Con Ed will not be able repair the damage." But the company has about 5,000 managers who could step in to keep power on in the event of a labor stoppage. To prepare for a strike, Con Ed has put contingency plans in place and has retrained its managerial force. It has also increasingly relied on outside contractors and can depend on some of them to step in. Work on major construction projects could be limited if a strike occurs.

Con Ed To Closed Stores: Suck It

Con Edison says they will pay for the repairs of buildings that suffered physical damage from last week's steam pipe explosion, but that there will be no compensation for lost business. Many buildings suffered blown-out windows and destroyed signage. The "frozen-zone" around the explosion site has been reduced to the four blocks around E.41st and Lexington Avenue. Stores and restaurants inside the zone remain closed. In addition to lost sales, some eateries have had thousands of dollars worth of food spoil.

It appears that repairs were attempted at the site just days before the explosion. I don't pretend to understand the legal obligations that Con Ed may be subject to, but it certainly seems that they have a moral obligation to compensate all those businesses who are suffering due to Con Ed's negligent maintenance of the city's infrastructure. I suppose Con Ed is just lucky that this incident didn't happen during the winter, as that steam pipe provides heat to dozens of midtown towers who find it cheaper to buy steam from Con Ed, rather than installing their own boiler systems.