New York regulators on July 15 approved settlements totaling $86.2 million with four utilities over failures related to their response to outages and emergencies, including Tropical Storm Isaias.
The New York State Public Service Commission accepted the terms of the settlements related to alleged violations from the four utilities — Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc., Orange and Rockland Utilities Inc., Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. and Frontier Communications of New York — for failing to "adequately prepare for and respond to emergencies," including Isaias in August 2020, according to an announcement.
Isaias left more than 900,000 customers without electricity, some for days, after damaging electric distribution infrastructure.
The PSC had previously considered a total of $137.3 million in penalties for the three electric utilities. Under the settlement, Con Edison and Orange & Rockland, both Consolidated Edison Inc. subsidiaries, will pay a total of $82.05 million for the Isaias response and for electric service outages in New York City in 2019 and a steam outage in 2018. Central Hudson, a Fortis Inc. subsidiary, will pay $1.5 million. Frontier will pay $2.7 million.
"The size of these settlements should make it abundantly clear that New York utilities are obligated to prepare for severe weather and to develop robust emergency response programs," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. "If they fail to adequately do the job that's required of them, we will hold them accountable and we will force them to improve the way they do business — and their shareholders will pay the price."
The settlements announced July 15 are in addition to a $72 million settlement with broadband provider Altice USA Inc. and a $1.5 million settlement with New York State Electric & Gas Corp. related to the storm as well as $30 million that PSEG Long Island LLC forfeited to resolve then-pending litigation related to its alleged failures during Isaias.
The settlements resolve all open investigations related to the storm, according to Cuomo's announcement.
The total for all settlements reaches nearly $190 million, and the money will be used to "offset costs that would have been otherwise borne by customers," according to the governor's office. Some of the settlement requirements are that the utilities develop more robust storm-response programs and enhance communication and coordination with municipal and county governments.
The utilities were accused of violating their own emergency response plans, inadequate storm staffing, failure to communicate outages, failure to detect and fix physical damages, and inadequate maintenance and operation of systems, among others.
The PSC also approved amended electric emergency response plans for the state's major utilities, reflecting corrective actions following Isaias.
A day before the New York decision, the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority issued a final decision imposing about $30 million in penalties against Eversource Energy subsidiary Connecticut Light and Power Co. and United Illuminating Co., owned by Spain-headquartered Iberdrola SA, for their handling of Isaias.
