PSC says utility misses forest for the trees: NYSEG has cut back on trimming and commission says it wants to know why

ALBANY, Jul 04, 2009 (Albany Times Union - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- NGESM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- State regulators are concerned New York State Electric & Gas Corp. has neglected its tree-trimming program over the past several years, a decision they say saved the company money but left customers in the dark.

Last week, the state Public Service Commission ordered NYSEG President James Laurito to deliver a report within 30 days explaining why the company has been cutting back on tree work -- even though the number of outages due to trees falling on equipment soared 40 percent between 2004 and 2008.

The move came after staff at the Department of Public Service, the state agency that makes recommendations to the five-person PSC, revealed startling statistics in its annual electric utility reliability report.

The report, released June 18 at the commission's monthly meeting in Albany, shows that between 2004 and 2008, the number of hours that NYSEG customers were without power due to tree accidents rose from 477,623 to 886,543.

Christian Bonvin, a power systems specialist in the department's Office of Electric, Gas and Water, told the PSC that over the past two years, NYSEG has cut in half the amount of tree trimming it has historically done in terms of miles covered over its distribution system. And Rochester-based NYSEG also has cut spending on its tree program below anticipated levels.

PSC Commissioner Patricia Acampora said there was "no excuse" for the reductions, according to a transcript of the meeting.

"We have gone through this year after year," Acampora said. "It's really unfathomable to me that a utility would cut back on tree trimming when tree trimming and reliability go hand in hand. ... I really think that NYSEG has made a very serious error, and I hope that they will get their tree-trimming program back into action."

NYSEG has 45,000 customers in the Capital Region, and more than 800,000 across the state.

Company spokesman Robert Bergin said Friday that NYSEG is reviewing the PSC request and "looks forward" to working closely with the commission on tree-trimming issues.

"Safety and reliability have been and remain top priorities for NYSEG, and our performance ranks among the highest in the state," he said. "The funding necessary to consistently maintain the highest level of reliability continues to be challenging, since our electric delivery rates have not been increased since 1996."

NYSEG sought a rate increase from the PSC in January, claiming it needed to stabilize its finances because of the economic meltdown. But the commission dismissed the case in April.

NYSEG's overall reliability numbers were actually better in 2008 than the previous year -- and in fact the PSC request notes that the utility's "overall reliability performance has not deteriorated."

But according to the PSC report, trees were the single greatest contributor to outages in the NYSEG service territory, accounting for 41 percent of outages in 2008.

That's in sharp contract to National Grid, upstate New York's other large utility, which had 24 percent of its outages caused by trees in 2008.

Tree-trimming programs have always been a major focus for the PSC. But the commission's interest intensified after December's ice storm, which knocked out power to 300,000 customers in the region. During the storm, ice buildup and winds caused trees and limbs to snap, knocking down wires and poles, and leaving many customers without power for days.

Although the utilities said no tree-trimming program could have prevented the devastation, the PSC said it wanted to keep a close eye on what impact tree programs were having on the reliability of the electrical grid.

NYSEG's report to the PSC is expected to include data back to 2000. The utility was told to compare tree-trimming budgets to actual expenditures and show how many miles of power lines were trimmed.

Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.

To see more of the Albany Times Union, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.timesunion.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Albany Times Union, N.Y.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax
to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave.,
Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

More News:   Market Updates | Stock Alerts | All Trading News | Stock Index