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.
