After months of open debate, discussion and review LIPA and PSEG Long Island have reached an agreement to enable PSEG Long Island to continue to operate Long Island’s energy grid under a newly revised contract. It comes at a critical time as tropical storms have already formed in the Atlantic and come up the coast, and the promise of more severe weather is in the long range forecast. Storm proofing, along with the need to provide uninterrupted power during peak summer demand, has PSEG Long Island at full alert.
Accordingly, we test, we re-test, and we drill. And, then we test again. We have taken the important lessons learned from last summer and turned them into meaningful action. As a result, we are ready for this year’s storm season.
We revamped our outage management system, and tested it under extreme scenarios simulating 90 percent of customers losing power, ensuring our digital dispatch system holds up in a crisis and can mobilize crews where and when they’re needed.
We improved our phone system to ensure that anyone experiencing an outage can get reliable information and report downed wires to us. We’ve worked to increase capacity so you can get through to us. Our latest stress test had us handling 150,000 calls per hour—more than we saw during the peak hour after Isaias—and the system held up well.
And now that we have a path forward with the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), our incredible work force can be singularly focused on what they do best, keeping the lights on. These are the people I am honored to call colleagues.
We have deep roots in Long Island and have been proudly serving Long Island and the Rockaways for seven years, and steadily improving what matters for our 1.1 million customers.
And, I promise you, we want customers to see continuous improvement and innovation, year after year. We have programs to harden more lines in order to stand up to increasingly severe weather and prevent outages in the first place, to make it easier and less expensive for customers to buy electric vehicles, and to do our part to advance the adoption of renewable energy and conservation.
Most importantly, we’re here for those critical moments when severe, unexpected weather hits the region, and customers need us the most.
We have big challenges ahead—and the partnership between PSEG Long Island and the people of Long Island is the right one to meet the moment. That’s true for the long-term, but also right now as storm season is upon us.
Daniel Eichhorn, President and Chief Operating Officer of PSEG Long Island
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LONG ISLAND BUSINESS NEWS I July 30-August 5, 2021 I LIBN.COM
