ALBANY — The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) today received an annual review from Department of Public Service staff that assessed the major utilities in terms of their performance in a number of key areas, including electric service reliability, preventing stray voltage, and gas safety for 2014.

Based on staff’s findings, the performance of the State’s major electric and gas utilities was generally positive and tracked performance in years’ past, with one exception. While most of major utilities performed well in terms of meeting required performance targets in 2014, Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc. failed to meet its performance target for network duration of electric interruptions.

According to staff’s analysis, the average Con Edison customer experienced an outage longer than the maximum target allowed. As a result of its failure to meet the standard, the utility will incur a $5 million negative revenue adjustment. The funds paid by company shareholders reflect tough standards the Commission sets to ensure utility reliability and continuing performance improvements.

In other areas, the utilities performed adequately. In terms of service reliability, the frequency of electric interruptions statewide, excluding major storms, stayed the same as performance in 2013, while the duration of electric interruptions statewide was slightly longer than in 2013, but still in-line with the statewide five-year average. 

For stray voltage, staff reported that all utilities are in compliance with testing requirements of the electric safety standards.  In 2014, manual stray voltage testing was performed on approximately 1.3 million utility facilities statewide, with 580 stray voltage conditions identified. Along with testing requirements, utilities are required to inspect all electric facilities at least once every five years. Staff reported that all utilities are in compliance with the visual inspection requirements of the electric safety standards for 2014. 

For gas safety, staff reported that natural gas local distribution companies’ performance in 2014 in three areas pertaining to safety — damage prevention, emergency response, and leak management — have improved or remained the same from a year ago. Damage prevention, emergency response times, and leak management all have improved significantly since 2003. 

Preventing damage to underground gas pipes is critically important. Damage to buried facilities caused by excavation activities is the leading cause of pipeline failure and accidents nationwide. Staff reported that overall damage prevention performance statewide improve 10.9 percent during 2014, and 73.8 percent since 2003. Responding quickly to potential gas-related emergencies is also critically important; each of the gas utilities meet emergency response performance requirements in 2014.

Leak management, which seeks to keep potentially hazardous leaks to a minimum, is another example of how utilities can ensure public safety. For leak management, the year-end backlog of potentially hazardous leaks stayed consistent at 108 when compared to 2013; and it has improved 90.6 percent since 2003.  For the newly evaluated category, the year-end backlog of total leaks has improved 15.2 percent when compared with 2010.

Staff’s 2014 Electric Reliability Report, Stray Voltage Report, and 2014 Gas Safety Performance Measures Report, when available, may be obtained by going to the Documents section of the Commission’s Web site at www.dps.ny.gov and entering Case Number 15-E-0179 or 15-E-0047 or 15-G-0248 or in the input box labeled "Search for Case/Matter Number."  Many libraries offer free Internet access. Commission orders may also be obtained from the Commission’s Files Office, 14th floor, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223 (518-474-2500).  If you have difficulty understanding English, please call us at 1-800-342-3377 for free language assistance services regarding this press release.