Gianaris Blasts Con Ed Again
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Gianaris addresses the press as Gioia listens attentively.

According to Assemblymember Michael Gianaris, Con Edison admitted that the utility spent $581,000 on a publicity campaign to repair its image in Western Queens after last summer's nineday power blackout in that area.

Meanwhile, Gianaris said that the giant utility was simultaneously denying local merchants' claims for losses suffered during the power failure which exceeded the $7,000 maximum Con Ed was paying.

Gianaris (D- Astoria) declared the halfmillion dollar slick p.r. campaign was "the ultimate outrage".

A similar reaction came from Congressmember Carolyn Maloney, whose district includes areas hit by the blackout.

Maloney recalled, "As the blackout ended, my office conducted a survey of local businesses and found that most of them had incurred significantly more than $7,000 in damages. Con Edison has absolutely refused to make them whole. It's shocking to find they spent nearly $600,000 on an advertising blitz at the same time as they refused to take financial responsibility for the harm they caused."

Con Ed spokesperson Michael Clendenin defended the public relations campaign, calling it "an important means of communicating our commitment". Clendenin also said the company had paid out a total of $14.3 million in claims and "has invested $90,000,000 in emergency response, repair and upgrades of the electrical system servicing the Long Island City, Astoria area".

According to a report released by the state Public Service Commission (PSC), the blackout left 174,000 residents in Astoria, Long Island City, Woodside, Sunnyside and East Elmhurst without light or refrigeration. Con Ed had claimed that only about 100,000 people were affected besides thousands of businesses.

A task force formed by Gianaris found that the PSC bore some of the blame for the power failure, a fact which the agency later admitted was correct.

Gianaris fired his latest shot at Con Ed for the fallout from the blackout last Sunday at a morning press conference at Ditmars Boulevard and 33rd Street in Astoria.

The following day, the New York Post reported that a Con Ed official had announced to an investors' conference that the utility plans to file a request for a "substantial increase" in electric rates in May.

This would be on top of a rate hike approved by the PSC in 2005 that will take effect April 1.

Gianaris, commenting on the reported possible rate increase announced by Con Ed Chief Financial Officer Robert Hoglund, characterized it as "a money grab".

The lawmaker declared that Con Ed already had sufficient funds to keep its system in working order before last summer's power failure, but the blackout occurred anyway.

Gianaris has warned that there is some likelihood that there will be new blackouts this summer. He was backed by Councilmember Eric Gioia (D- Long Island City), who said Con Ed hadn't done anything yet to ward off new blackouts.

But a Con Ed spokesman said the company had promised to spend $1.5 million a year to upgrade the electrical system.