Lowey: Con Ed Must Address Problems that Prolonged Power Outages

Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY17/Rockland-Westchester) sent a letter to John McAvoy, chairman and CEO of Con Edison, demanding the company take steps to ensure permanent solutions to the recurring preparedness, personnel, and communication problems in its storm response efforts, most recently with winter storms Riley and Quinn. The letter noted that Con Edison’s delays in making repairs and restoring power following the recent winter storms caused significant physical and economic losses to families and businesses throughout Westchester County, and also called on Con Edison leadership to meet with municipal officials to hear and learn from them what went wrong and what needs to be fixed.

“Now that power has been restored to most if not all of Con Edison customers in Westchester who were affected by winter storms Riley and Quinn, I write to urge your company to take steps to ensure that serious problems in preparedness, personnel, and communication do not happen again,” wrote Congresswoman Lowey. “While these back-to-back storms were severe, Con Edison’s delays in responding to the havoc caused significant physical and economic losses to families and businesses throughout the county. It is unacceptable that thousands of residents were without electricity or heat, many for more than a week, and that some schools and many businesses were forced to remain closed.

“I fully support the State’s investigation into the lack of preparedness, poor communication, and weak infrastructural support that was on display in the aftermath of these storms. However, Con Edison should take proactive steps now to review the failures in response to these two winter storms, including meetings between you, your leadership team and municipal and other elected officials from across Westchester, as we demand answers and again seek permanent solutions to these recurring problems in Con Edison’s storm response efforts,” Congresswoman Lowey concluded.

To read Congresswoman Lowey's full letter, click here.