Con Ed: Time to Be Held Accountable for Your Negligence

posted by Robert Hornak
Fri, 01/19/2007 - 4:52pm

On Wednesday the NYS Department of Public Service released its' report on the July 2006 power outage in Queens and what responsibility Con Ed had in the failure. To say the least, the report was scathing for Con Ed and called their failures in this incident "unacceptable."

The report goes on to say that Con Ed did not take appropriate action to "minimize the impact of the primary cable and transformer failures on the secondary system and consumers."

I could quote endlessly from the report, but instead you may just want to read it for yourself. The bottom line however is that Con Ed was grossly negligent in this situation and bears full responsibility for the duration and severity of the outage.

While there is a discussion of fines being levied against Con Ed, there is no discussion of compensation for the thousands of businesses that were essentially put out of business that week. And, as if to add insult to injury, Mayor Bloomberg is actually saying that there should be no penalty at all for Con Ed's negligence, and that any fine would just cause rates to increase for consumers.

The mayor's statement is patently untrue. While Con Ed is a for-profit company, its rates are regulated by the state and they can not just pass along the costs associated with their negligence to the consumer. Instead, the hit would be at the expense of the shareholders, who may find the loss of revenue enough to warrant the dismissal of Con Ed's management team.

This seems to be more at the heart of the mayor's false statement trying to defend his friend, Con Ed boss Kevin Burke, but that is not the real issue. The real issue is how are the thousands of businesses that were hurt by Con Ed going to be made whole.

Litigation is one way, and now that it becomes clearer every day that negligence, bad judgment and incompetence are at the heart of this catastrophe, the door is open for a legal remedy. However, it would serve everyone's interests if this were settled quickly. While $9 million is too low a fine, whatever money is eventually levied against Con Ed should be put in a business compensation fund to help all the small business owners that had to pay rent, salaries and other expenses while Con Ed took a week or longer to restore full power.

Unfortunately, too many of NYC's elected officials look at the business community as some sort of "cash cow" to be milked whenever these politicians can't manage to balance their $55 billion a year budget. Now is the time for the Mayor, Public Advocate, Borough President and Councilmembers to step up and do something in return for these people who have been the backbone of NYC's economic life.

These businesses have been hurt and deserve to be compensated. It is the only fair thing to do.

Categories: Con Edison

Con Ed: Time to Be Held

Submitted by average NY'er (not verified) on Sat, 01/20/2007 - 12:42am.

Bloomberg is a bumbling out of touch idiot and con ed should be forced to open up their closed market to competitors after their botched handling last summer. It means nothing to the billionaire mayor that mom and pop businsesses were wiped out because of the 3 rd world blackout in Astoria.

Bloomberg and Burke, 2 corporate ass wipes specializing in screwining the little guy.

reply | email this comment

Another Lesson

Submitted by Larry Littlefield on Sat, 01/20/2007 - 6:28am.

(Unfortunately, too many of NYC's elected officials look at the business community as some sort of "cash cow" to be milked)

Private businesses often consider the infrastructure a cow to be milked -- the less they reinvest, the bigger the executive bonus. Something to think about as people propose selling off roads and bridges, taking all future toll revenues into the present.

Of course, government's record on infrastructure is less than stellar. And Americans haven't been running their personal finances in a way that will do anyone any good in the long run either.

We didn't have a blackout because New York is anti-business, but because America is anti-future.

reply | email this comment

Fight the Power

Submitted by Nicolo Macchiavelli (not verified) on Sat, 01/20/2007 - 9:39am.

Another thoughtful post from Larry Littlefield. There will be some piling on by some trying to take advantage, and of course the Mayor is showing his class consciousness. On the other hand, we the consuers avoid all blame. Everything has to be air conditioned all the time. No neighborhood will allow new power stations. It is hard for the physics to keep up with the consumers agenda and sometimes shit happens.

reply | email this comment

Business Realities

Submitted by Robert Hornak on Sat, 01/20/2007 - 5:14pm.

A few fair points. However, let me point out that most business people, especially in Astoria where I live, are not executives, but rather are small business owners and managers, Larry.

And, yes, gov't has a horrible record on infrastructure, instead opting for politicians precious member items to insure their reelection. To pass the blame on to the business community is extremely disingenuous.

In fact, businesses in nyc have been milked like in no other city, with an array of taxes and regulations that would be seen as obscene in almost any other city.

I also don't believe America is anti-future. That is awfully pessimistic. I think it would be more accurate to say Americans can be short-sighted at times in this instant gratification pop culture we have developed.

Nico also makes a good point about new power generation being required. And, yes, the nimby crowd will fight every attempt at building a generating plant here in the city. And, truth be told, city land may be too valuable to use for power generating stations. Better to build them outside the city and run the power in from place like upstate where they want to develop their power industry. Of course, the nimby/banana activists fight even the running of power lines, not leaving too many choices.

Fortunately, eventually the feds will get involved and force the lines to be built over the complaints of the local wackos.

reply | email this comment

Give the Mayor Credit For This

Submitted by Larry Littlefield on Sat, 01/20/2007 - 7:53pm.

While I hate his tax giveaways, at least he proposes cutting back the unincorporated business tax.

It is hardly fair that a self-employed person or small business owner pays more in local income taxes than the employee of a non-profit or public agency with the identical income. Especially since businesses are making more and more workers from younger generations "freelancers" to avoid paying for their health insurance.

The City should have been a little quickler to help here. Everyone should be prepared to deal with a day or two without power. S__t happens. When it went on longer, people's ability to cope went down and a crisis developed. The City wasn't ready. I hope it will be this summer.

reply | email this comment

Christine Lindsey

Submitted by Winifred Roy (not verified) on Sun, 12/16/2007 - 1:19pm.

doggone outgaze thomist incommensurableness metromalacosis allophylus novice newish
Wells, Robert
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/

reply | email this comment

Christine Lindsey

Submitted by Winifred Roy (not verified) on Sun, 12/16/2007 - 1:19pm.

doggone outgaze thomist incommensurableness metromalacosis allophylus novice newish
Wells, Robert
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/

reply | email this comment

Christine Lindsey

Submitted by Winifred Roy (not verified) on Sun, 12/16/2007 - 1:20pm.

doggone outgaze thomist incommensurableness metromalacosis allophylus novice newish
Wells, Robert
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/