Resolution calling on the New York Public Services Commission to require Consolidated Edison to update its food spoilage reimbursement policy to reflect the federal food safety guidelines published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

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Res. No. 1096 ..Title Resolution calling on the New York Public Services Commission to require Consolidated Edison to update its food spoilage reimbursement policy to reflect the federal food safety guidelines published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. ..Body By Council Member Treyger Whereas, Consolidated Edison (Con Ed) is the primary utility company serving New Yorkers across the five boroughs; and Whereas, In total, Con Ed provides electricity to around 3.3 million customers in New York City and Westchester County; and Whereas, The New York state Public Services Commission overseas Con Ed's operations and approves the electricity rates that Con Ed sets for its customers; and Whereas, The most recent tariff agreement includes the terms and conditions for customers to receive a reimbursement for food spoilage as a result of power failures; and Whereas, As the utility with monopoly control of the market in New York City, most city residents rely completely on the electricity services provided by Con Ed; and Whereas, This makes the City's residents particularly vulnerable to power outages caused by failures within Con Ed's supply chain; and Whereas, For example, during a heat wave weekend in New York City in July of this year, residents in certain Brooklyn neighborhoods had their power deliberately switched off or reduced by Con Ed; and Whereas, On the Friday before the weekend began, Mayor de Blasio declared local emergency due to the extreme heat, and over that weekend the heat index reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit; Whereas, This caused demand for electricity to skyrocket as more and more people ran their air conditioners; and Whereas, During the Sunday afternoon of that weekend, Con Ed broke its 2016 record for energy supply, hitting 12,048 megawatts of electricity between 4 and 5pm; and Whereas, Unable to deal with the demand, and fear that the spike in use could further damage equipment and cause wider outages, Con Ed made the decision to cut power to neighborhoods in Brooklyn; and Whereas, An estimated 33,000 Con Ed customers in Canarsie, Flatlands, Mill Basin, Old Mill Basin, Bergen Beach and Georgetown all had their power cut by the utility; and Whereas, According to a statement from Con Ed after the outages, the deliberate cuts were required to prevent further outages that may have resulted from equipment damage; and Whereas, The 33,000 customers in Brooklyn affected by the decision to cut power were in addition to those who were experiencing general power outages across the five boroughs; and, Whereas, In the weeks prior to the heatwave weekend, multiple outages had also hit New York City due to equipment failures, transistor fires and overheating underground power lines; and Whereas, This includes a major outage in Manhattan that impacted about 73,000 Con Ed customers for at least three hours; and Whereas, As a result of the various outages during the summer of 2019, hundreds of thousands of New York City residents faced having to throw away food that was no longer safe to eat; and Whereas, In the food safety guidelines published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Foodsafety.gov site, most food that requires refrigeration should be discarded after two to four hours without power; and Whereas, The guidelines advise that meats, seafood, eggs, soft cheeses and cut fruit be discarded if they have been held at temperatures above 40 degrees Fahrenheit for more than two hours; and Whereas, Meanwhile, the federal Department of Agriculture's (USDA) ABCD's of keeping food safe in an emergency states that, if a refrigerator door remains closed, it should be able to keep food safely for about four hours; and Whereas, Residential Con Ed customers in New York City are able to file a claim for reimbursement for food that was discarded due to spoilage during a power outage; and Whereas, However, Con Ed requires that the power outage last for at least 12 hours during a 24-hour period; and Whereas, This policy means that most of the customers who were caught up in the outages during the summer of 2019, including those in Brooklyn who had their power deliberately turned off by Con Ed, would not be reimbursed for their food spoilage costs; and Whereas, The food safety standards published by United States Department of Health and Human Services are informed by a range of federal agencies including the USDA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Centers for Disease and Control (CDC); and Whereas, As such, their food safety guidelines are considered to be the official standard supported by the federal government; and Whereas, By ignoring these federal guidelines, the 12-hour outage requirement in Con Ed's reimbursement policy for food spoilage leaves many of their customers out of pocket; now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the New York Public Services Commission require Consolidated Edison to update its food spoilage reimbursement policy to reflect the federal food safety guidelines published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. LS #11764 8/19/19 LMS

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