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Letter to President Craig Ivey, Consolidated Edison Company of New York - Compensate Metro-North for Power Outage

Letter

Date: Nov. 1, 2013
Location: Hartford, CT
Issues: Transportation

November 1, 2013

Craig Ivey, President
Consolidated Edison Company of New York
4 Irving Place
New York, NY 10003

Dear President Ivey:

Thank you for your testimony at the October 28, 2013 hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation's Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security. Based on your testimony regarding ConEd's complete control over the operations during which the electrical feeder line failed and the historic problems with ConEd electrical feeder line reliability, we urge that you immediately reconsider your rejection of any liability for damages suffered by MetroNorth as a result of the lack of adequate electricity supply from September 25, 2013 through October 7, 2013.

We believe that ConEd bears an undeniable clear obligation, and should voluntarily acknowledge its responsibility financially for the full costs of the break down in service. Such voluntary action would spare ConEd and all parties the time and expense of formal agency proceedings and possible litigation.

During your testimony on October 28th, you acknowledged that ConEd owns the Mount Vernon electrical feeder line and that ConEd froze of one of the two electrical feeder lines, resulting in the second one failing without any backup or contingency plan for power to the railroad. ConEd should be held accountable for the damages to MetroNorth as a result of the electrical feeder failure including full refunds to consumers. During the hearing you acknowledged that there was absolutely no warning of risks to MetroNorth and no contingency plans for such risks. MetroNorth cannot be held responsible for risks that were not conveyed.

We urge you to acknowledge the full extent of your responsibility and that upon receipt of a verified damage claim by MetroNorth, you approve such claim and seek any necessary waivers of damage limits. To this end, we have written to the New York Public Service Commission to request that you be directed to pay MetroNorth for the damages that resulted from the electrical feeder line failure. Further, we urge you to take steps to ensure that any payment comes from shareholders rather than ratepayers and we note that given the 29% increase in net income from 2009 through 2012 to $1.14 billion, any damage claim from MetroNorth -- currently estimated to be at least $8-12 million -- is only a small portion of ConEd profits.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Richard Blumenthal
United States Senator

Christopher S. Murphy
United States Senator


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