We will advocate for Con Edison to implement recommendations from the City's report on the western Queens power outages
The damage caused by the 2006 power outages demonstrated the need for extensive upgrades to the city's electric delivery system. A City evaluation found that some of the failures in western Queens could have been avoided if equipment had been updated in a timelier manner, if upgrades to the system had been monitored more closely or if Con Edison had fully implemented recommendations made after the Washington Heights blackout in 1999.

We will advocate before the PSC and through the upcoming Con Edison electric rate case for the implementation of the 53 recommendations contained in the City's report. These recommendations include:

• Expanding the installation of advanced meters, which will improve Con Edison's ability to instantly identify the number of customers affected by a power outage
• Accelerating repairs to failure-prone components of the grid and strengthening oversight of contractors
• Completing the implementation of all recommendations from the 1999 blackout, while evaluating similarities with the Queens blackout for additional lessons on how to improve grid reliability

Progress (as of 4/22/08):
The PSC issued an order on July 20 implementing Long Island City outage recommendations. The City, as well as the Consumer Protection Board, filed a Petition for Rehearing on August 20, asking the Public Service Commission to revisit 26 of the City's 53 recommendations.