Yonkers Insider: Westchester County: 1/4 - 10AM - AFTER TROPICAL STORM ISAIAS, UNITED WESTCHESTER ISSUES 42 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ELECTRIC UTILITY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES TO IMPROVE RESPONSE TO FUTURE STORMS.

 

***MEDIA ADVISORY***

 AFTER TROPICAL STORM ISAIAS, UNITED WESTCHESTER ISSUES 42 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ELECTRIC UTILITY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES TO IMPROVE RESPONSE TO FUTURE STORMS.

 

Westchester County Executive George Latimer, Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and United Westchester Release Report with Recommendations for Improved Response to Future Storms -- Including 11 Recommendations for Telecommunications Companies.

 

Monday, January 4

10a.m.

Watch on https://www.facebook.com/westchestergov/

 

(White Plains, NY) - United Westchester wants Con Edison and NYSEG to improve communication with municipalities, and they want Altice and Verizon to upgrade their infrastructure.  These are just two of the 42 recommendations that United Westchester makes for these electric utility and telecommunications companies in the group’s Storm Response Report, in light of Tropical Storm Isaias.

 

Westchester County Executive George Latimer, New York State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, and United Westchester, have released a Storm Response Report with detailed analyses and recommendations to address the failures of the electric utility and telecommunications companies in Westchester. 

 

Among the other recommendations for Con Edison and NYSEG:

•                The use of Smart Meters to track customers who are without power, creating a live interactive outage map for public viewing

•                A regularly updated and shared list of critical facilities

•                An updated map of Con Edison’s grid provided to each municipality

•                Better internal communications in Con Edison between management, field and workers.

•                The creation of the utility reserve corps

•                Better supply and distribution of dry ice

•                A ten-year storm hardening plan and implementation

 

Among the recommendations for Altice and Verizon:

•                Improved coordination with electric utility companies during post-storm restoration efforts

•                Fixing customer service tools and availability

•                Providing municipal officials with operational contacts

•                Giving customers credits when they lose access to telecommunications services

•                For Altice, upgrading infrastructure and powering network nodes during power outages

 

On August 4, 2020 Tropical Storm Isaias hit New York with heavy rain, and winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour. The storm left thousands of Westchester residents without power for multiple days and disrupted telephone, cable, and internet services -- services that are particularly essential due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

United Westchester is a group of local, County, and State officials that have worked together since 2018 to implement significant and necessary improvements to storm response efforts in Westchester County.

 

The United Westchester report released today analyses, makes recommendations, and details what has been done to-date regarding the widespread outages, communication failures, and emergency response plans of our region’s electric utility and telecommunications providers in connection with Isaias. The report covers topics including: electric utility and telecommunications provider storm preparedness; the pre-storm steps taken to protect the electric distribution grid and critical telecommunications infrastructure; the reasons for the lengthy post-storm repair, restoration of service and reconnection of customers; the extent of coordination between electric utility and telecommunications providers and municipalities in restoring service; and the reasons for the loss of customer service communication during and after the storm.