Energizing the greatest city in the world without interruption demands an uncompromising focus on system reliability and resilience. Each day, we monitor and maintain system components, work with customers to facilitate major construction and renovation, research and develop new technologies, and invest in infrastructure to serve growing areas of our service territory.
Protecting our systems from extreme weather has long been part of Con Edison’s investment plan. From work as basic as trimming trees around power lines, to investments in sophisticated smart-grid technologies, the measures give our energy-delivery systems greater flexibility and reliability.
Late in 2012, Superstorm Sandy impacted more than just our physical assets – it changed the way we think about and plan for severe weather. In 2014, we continued to focus on shoring up our systems to prepare for increasingly severe storms. At the same time, we worked on enhancing system reliability to support peak energy use, and addressed emerging issues like cyber security.
Maintaining our world-class service reliability is a top priority for Con Edison. Our investments in our electric, gas, and steam infrastructure demonstrates our commitment to providing reliable service for our customers today and for decades to come.
Con Edison of New York’s 2014 reliability performance on the System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) for 2014 included 107 per 1,000 system customers served, 343 per 1,000 non-network customers served, and 25.2 per 1,000 network customers served. Performance on the Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI) for the year included 3.02 hours, 1.83 hours, and 8.62 hours, respectively.
In November 2012, a commission was formed under the Moreland Act to investigate New York power utilities’ preparation for and response to major storms affecting their service areas over the preceding two years. While reviewing the actions taken by these utilities during times of emergency, the commission issued specific recommendations to Governor Cuomo regarding what the commission felt were opportunities for improving storm preparation and response by the power sector. In June 2013, the City of New York, through the Office of the Mayor’s Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency and PlaNYC, released a plan identifying recommendations for rebuilding communities ravaged by Superstorm Sandy, and improving the resiliency of infrastructure throughout the city going forward.
Con Edison of New York and Orange and Rockland’s safe and reliable delivery of electricity, gas, and steam rely on urban and regional infrastructure. From 2013 to 2016, Con Edison has proposed to invest approximately $1 billion to improve the resiliency of the electric and gas delivery systems and the electrical and steam generating stations. In 2014 we reached the halfway point toward meeting that goal. Con Edison’s continued dedication to improving its service delivery during and after weather emergencies is discussed in this section.
Resilience isn’t limited to our ability to withstand severe weather; we must also be ready to withstand manmade threats against our systems. Cyber and physical security are equally important to Con Edison, and in this section we discuss some proactive measures we are taking to protect our business and our stakeholders.
