Persaud demands Con Ed pay up
Caribbean L 6 ife, July 26–Aug. 1, 2019 BQ
PATIENTS’
CHOICE
RATED & AWARDED BY PATIENTS
SM
By Nelson A. King
Brooklyn Sen. Roxanne J. Persaud has asked
her Southeast Brooklyn colleagues to join her in
calling on Con Edison to reimburse all customers
affected by power outages.
The Guyanese-born Persaud, who represents the
19th Senatorial District in Brooklyn, including
Canarsie, noted that more than 33,000 households
in Southeast Brooklyn experienced power outages
last weekend, “with many kept in the dark for
days.”
On Sunday evening, following an intense
heatwave, Con Edison said that about 33,000
households in Canarsie, Georgetown, Mill
Basin, Bergen Beach, Flatlands and other
nearby communities in Southeast Brooklyn lost
electricity.
The electric company reported working on
making repairs, reducing voltage throughout
the affected area to prevent a more significant
blackout, and restoring service as quickly as
possible.
By early Monday morning, Con Edison reported
restoring electricity for roughly 30,000 customers,
“but thousands of households still suffered in the
heat throughout the day and into the night,”
Persaud said.
She said Monday night’s severe thunderstorm
and flash flood caused additional outages and
delay in the restoration of electricity.
Persaud expressed disappointment in Con
Edison’s failure to keep the lights on for countless
Brooklynites in her district and their response
time to restore service.
“For days, New York and the entire tristate
area were warned about the incoming heatwave,
yet Con Edison was unprepared,” she said. “Over
30,000 households were in the dark and unable
to keep cool in their homes when they needed it
most.
“That is unacceptable,” she added. “Con Edison
must answer for this disastrous turn of events and
adequately compensate those who suffered from
their inadequacy.”
The senator is calling on Con Edison to
sufficiently credit the utility bills of residents
who were impacted by the power outages, as well
as waive the requirement for their reimbursement
claim.
She noted that customers who lost electricity
for less than 12 hours should be allowed to submit
reimbursement claims for perishable goods, and
that requiring receipts should be waived.
“I stand in solidarity with my fellow elected, as
well my constituents and neighbors, as I myself,
am a resident, that was personally affected,”
said Assemblymember Jaime R. Williams, 59th
Assembly District.
“In light of the recent Manhattan outage and
the overwhelming assurances by Con Ed that
outages such as those that occurred in the 59th
Assembly District would not occur, despite the
temperature exceeding the 100-degree mark,”
said the Trinidadian-born legislator.
“It is all the more distressing and concerning
such a power outage occurred and lasted for so
long,” she added. “The issuance of reimbursements
and credits are a step in the right direction, but
first and foremost, Con Ed must step up and
properly evaluate its infrastructure and take any
and all steps to make sure that disasters such as
this recent outage in Southern Brooklyn never
occur again.
“The officials of Con Ed have a lot to answer for
as to why this occurred, and a formal inquiry will
follow these events,” Williams continued.
Brooklyn Sen. Roxanne J. Persaud..
https://www.nysenate.gov/
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