Power Back, Mostly: Outages Still Plague Many

Con Edison reported early this morning that power was almost completely restored in Scarsdale Village after an afternoon outage that households, over a third of the town, with no electricity yesterday. 

What instigated the outage is still unknown, and investigators at the utility continue to search for clues in the rubble from a fire that broke out at the White Plains substation on New Street and Roosevelt Avenue, which contains the feeder cables that service a large swatch of Scarsdale residents.

The fire was not immediately attended to in full force, as White Plains and Scarsdale firefighters were battling a bigger blaze on East Post Road and Court Street, according to city officials.

The power outage affected mainly residents in Fox Meadow and Greenacres.

According to a 2:00 a.m. update on Con Ed's website, 242 customers of the 6,354 served in Scarsdale Village were still reporting power outages. As of the latest update, 2,579 customers throughout the county were missing power, with the bulk in Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, and Yonkers, but 39 households in Harrison, and 312 in Mamaroneck.

Another report on the Con Edison Storm Center website (see link below) marked only one outage in the village, and a spokesperson from Con Edison said she only saw one person still in the system as being without power.

The electrical service now being supplied to homes is being supplemented by massive, truck-sized emergency generators that were brought in Wednesday afternoon after the fire.

According to D. Joy Faber, a Con Ed spokeswoman, the fire at the substation "caused electrical equipment damage that will require about two weeks to repair."

"While all customers in Scarsdale have been restored from the initial aftermath of the fire, electrical equipment is being reinforced with several generators while repairs are being performed. The generators are a necessary precaution as the region continues to deal with high electric demand due to the multi-day heat wave we are currently experiencing."

White Plains officials expressed concern following the fire at the White Plains substation that even a partly functioning substation might not be able handle the demand imposed on the network of cables by an increased volume of residents using the reduced channels of supply while the station is under repair.

If you experience an interruption or service issue, report the problem immediately online at www.conEd.com, which is accessible by mobile phones and PDAs, or call 1-800-75-CONED.

Check back for updates.