Relates to the contents of emergency response plans required to be submitted to the public service commission by electric corporations; requires such plans to include details of staffing, equipment, and ability to perform toward certain standards; requires the public service commission to establish a time-based restoration schedule.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4030--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 1, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Telecommuni-
cations -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to the contents of
emergency response plans required to be submitted to the public
service commission by electric corporations
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 21 of section 66 of the public
2 service law, as added by section 4 of part X of chapter 57 of the laws
3 of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
4 (a) Each electric corporation subject to section twenty-five-a of this
5 chapter shall annually, on or before December fifteenth, submit to the
6 commission an emergency response plan for review and approval. The emer-
7 gency response plan shall be designed for the reasonably prompt restora-
8 tion of service in the case of an emergency event, defined for purposes
9 of this subdivision as an event where widespread outages have occurred
10 in the service territory of the company due to storms or other causes
11 beyond the control of the company. To support reasonably prompt restora-
12 tion of service in the case of an emergency event, emergency response
13 plans should include details of staffing, equipment and a performance
14 schedule with the goal of achieving restoration of service based upon a
15 time-based restoration schedule established by the commission. In estab-
16 lishing such time-based restoration schedules, the commission should
17 utilize benchmarks for the restoration of service which include, but are
18 not limited to, the percentage of customers restored within each twen-
19 ty-four-hour interval following the storm and consideration of different
20 kinds of storm events. The emergency response plan shall include, but
21 need not be limited to, the following: (i) the identification of manage-
22 ment staff responsible for company operations during an emergency; (ii)
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02409-02-1
S. 4030--A 2
1 a communications system with customers during an emergency that extends
2 beyond normal business hours and business conditions; (iii) identifica-
3 tion of and outreach plans to customers who had documented their need
4 for essential electricity for medical needs; (iv) identification of and
5 outreach plans to customers who had documented their need for essential
6 electricity to provide critical telecommunications, critical transporta-
7 tion, critical fuel distribution services or other large-load customers
8 identified by the commission; (v) designation of company staff to commu-
9 nicate with local officials and appropriate regulatory agencies; (vi)
10 provisions regarding how the company will assure the safety of its
11 employees and contractors; (vii) procedures for deploying company and
12 mutual aid crews to work assignment areas; (viii) identification of
13 additional supplies and equipment needed during an emergency; (ix) the
14 means of obtaining additional supplies and equipment; (x) procedures to
15 practice the emergency response plan; (xi) appropriate safety precau-
16 tions regarding electrical hazards, including plans to promptly secure
17 downed wires within thirty-six hours of notification of the location of
18 such downed wires from a municipal emergency official; and (xii) such
19 other additional information as the commission may require. Each such
20 corporation shall, on an annual basis, undertake drills implementing
21 procedures to practice its emergency management plan. The commission may
22 adopt additional requirements consistent with ensuring the reasonably
23 prompt restoration of service in the case of an emergency event.
24 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.