Recent and Repeated Power Outages

I thank the members of our community for bringing to our attention their problems with reoccurring electrical outages. Accordingly, I wrote the following letter to the New York State Public Service Commission:

November 19. 2021

Hon. Rory M. Christian, Chair
New York State Public Service Commission
3 Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY 12223—1350

Re: Repeated Power Outages in East Hills, Long Island, New York

Certain areas of the Village of East Hills have been experiencing repeated power outages, and we respectfully ask these issues be addressed immediately.

East Hills residents have reported, regularly, for several years, that even when mild inclement weather passes through, they experience power outages. The interruption of service lasts anywhere from a few hours to several days. The specific roads impacted persistently are: Entrance Road, Circle Road, and Meadow Lane.

Two power outages have taken place in the last two weeks alone. On November 5, 2021, East Hills residents were without power for three hours due to a faulty transformer. Residents have stated that transformer failures are one of the most frequent causes of the outages. When multiple residents contacted the power company, PSEG’s estimates of service and repair times where completely wrong.

The following week, on November 13, 2021, residents of the same streets were once again without power for approximately 24 hours. According to one resident, communication with the power company was “horrific.” PSEG repeatedly claimed that crews had been dispatched, but crews did not arrive until hours later. Again, the estimates and updates provided by PSEG were unreliable.

This service has never been addressed. PSEG still does not know when an outage occurs unless someone calls the utility. If only one person calls, they only know that one person has an outage.

We, therefore, call for an inquiry so that once and for all, this condition is cured, and the lives of the residents on these streets are not seriously interrupted and inconvenienced.”

Thank you,
Michael Koblenz
Mayor,
Incorporated Village of East Hills