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A03360 Summary:

BILL NOA03360A
 
SAME ASSAME AS S04824-A
 
SPONSORPaulin
 
COSPNSROtis, Galef, Vanel, Barron, Jacobson, Santabarbara, Griffin
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd §66, add §73, Pub Serv L
 
Requires each electric corporation to submit a storm hardening and system resiliency plan to the public service commission for review and approval; makes related provisions (Part A); requires utility companies to reimburse customers for certain widespread prolonged outages; prohibits utility companies from recovering from customers the costs incurred due to power outage reimbursements; authorizes utility companies to petition the public service commission for a waiver of the reimbursement requirements (Part B).
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A03360 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         3360--A
                                                                Cal. No. 170
 
                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 26, 2021
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. PAULIN, OTIS, GALEF, VANEL, BARRON, JACOBSON,
          SANTABARBARA -- read once and referred  to  the  Committee  on  Corpo-
          rations,  Authorities  and Commissions -- reported and referred to the
          Committee on Codes -- advanced to a third reading, passed by  Assembly
          and  delivered to the Senate, recalled from the Senate, vote reconsid-
          ered, bill amended, ordered reprinted,  retaining  its  place  on  the
          order of third reading
 
        AN  ACT  to amend the public service law, in relation to storm hardening
          and system resiliency plans (Part A); and to amend the public  service
          law, in relation to providing rate payers with reimbursement following
          prolonged power outages (Part B)
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1.  Each component of this act is wholly  contained  within  a
     2  part  identified  parts  A and B. The effective date for each particular
     3  provision contained within such part is set forth in the last section of
     4  such part. Any provision in any section contained within a part, includ-
     5  ing the effective date of the part, which makes reference to  a  section
     6  "of  this  act", when used in connection with that particular component,
     7  shall be deemed to mean and refer to the corresponding  section  of  the
     8  part  in  which  it  is  found. Section three of this act sets forth the
     9  general effective date of this act.
 
    10                                   PART A
 
    11    Section 1. Legislative findings. 1. The Legislature hereby  finds  and
    12  declares  that,  due  to  the  rise  in  storm intensity, and effects of
    13  climate change, dedicated storm hardening programs need to be  developed
    14  and  implemented  throughout  New  York State to reduce damage and costs
    15  from future weather events, as well  as  facilitate  prompt  restoration
    16  times.  Storm hardening is the process of constructing new, or upgrading

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08931-10-1

        A. 3360--A                          2
 
     1  old, infrastructure  to  increase  resiliency  and  overall  reliability
     2  during  weather  events.  In  2018,  Winter Storm Riley and Winter Storm
     3  Quinn greatly impacted New  York's  electric  distribution  system  with
     4  nearly  500,000  customers  losing power. In August 2020, Tropical Storm
     5  Isaias brought high winds, downed trees and widespread power outages  to
     6  much  of  the  state; hundreds of thousands of customers in Long Island,
     7  New York City, Westchester and Rockland counties  experienced  extensive
     8  power  outages,  some lasting for more than a week. Legislative hearings
     9  following these storms made  it  clear  that  enhanced  storm  hardening
    10  efforts  are  needed to mitigate some of the impacts to the distribution
    11  infrastructure and customers;
    12    2. It is in  the  state's  interest  to  strengthen  electric  utility
    13  infrastructure  to withstand extreme weather conditions, and the effects
    14  of climate change by promoting the hardening of electrical  transmission
    15  and  distribution  facilities,  the undergrounding of certain electrical
    16  distribution lines, and enhanced vegetation  management,  including  the
    17  removal of danger trees, as well as long term planning;
    18    3.  Protecting  and  strengthening transmission and distribution elec-
    19  trical utility infrastructure from extreme weather conditions,  and  the
    20  effect  of  climate change, can effectively reduce restoration costs and
    21  outage times to customers and improve overall  service  reliability  for
    22  customers;
    23    4. It is in the state's interest for each utility to mitigate restora-
    24  tion  costs and outage times to utility customers when developing trans-
    25  mission and distribution storm protection plans; and
    26    5. All customers benefit from the reduced costs of storm restoration.
    27    § 2. Section 66 of the public service law is amended by adding  a  new
    28  subdivision 29 to read as follows:
    29    29.  (a) Each electric corporation subject to section twenty-five-a of
    30  this chapter shall prepare and submit  a  climate  change  vulnerability
    31  study  to the commission within eighteen months of the effective date of
    32  this act. The commission shall provide such study to  the  governor  and
    33  the  legislature.  The climate change vulnerability study shall evaluate
    34  the electric corporation's infrastructure,  design  specifications,  and
    35  procedures  to  better  understand  the  corporation's  vulnerability to
    36  climate-driven risks, and shall include, but not be limited to,  adapta-
    37  tion  measures  to  address  vulnerabilities  and  any other information
    38  deemed necessary by the commission.
    39    (b) Within sixty days from submission of a climate change vulnerabili-
    40  ty study to the commission, each electric corporation subject to section
    41  twenty-five-a of this chapter  shall,  pursuant  to  regulation  by  the
    42  commission,  submit  a  climate  resilience  plan  to the commission for
    43  review and approval.  Each plan shall: (i) propose storm  hardening  and
    44  resiliency  measures  for the next ten years and twenty years, and shall
    45  explain the systematic approach the corporation will follow  to  achieve
    46  the  objectives  of  mitigating the impacts of climate change to utility
    47  infrastructure, reducing restoration costs and outage  times  associated
    48  with  extreme weather events, and enhancing reliability, as well as such
    49  other additional objectives the commission may require  consistent  with
    50  ensuring  increased  resiliency  of  utility  infrastructure and overall
    51  reliability during extreme weather events; (ii) detail  how  the  corpo-
    52  ration  will incorporate climate change into its planning, design, oper-
    53  ations, and emergency response; (iii) incorporate  climate  change  into
    54  existing  processes and practices, manage climate change risks and build
    55  resilience; and (iv) propose  adjustments,  as  necessary,  to  how  the
    56  corporation  plans and designs infrastructure for the increasing impacts

        A. 3360--A                          3
 
     1  from climate change.  The commission shall adopt rules  to  specify  any
     2  additional  elements that must be included in a corporation's filing for
     3  review of climate resilience plans.
     4    (c)  Each  subject  electric corporation shall contemporaneously serve
     5  the climate resilience plan on the parties from its last rate case filed
     6  pursuant to subdivision twelve of this section.
     7    (d) In its review of each climate resilience plan  filed  pursuant  to
     8  this subdivision, the commission shall, at minimum, consider:
     9    (i)  the  extent to which the plan is expected to mitigate the impacts
    10  of climate change, reduce restoration costs and outage times  associated
    11  with  extreme weather events, and enhance reliability, including whether
    12  the plan examines areas of lower reliability performance;
    13    (ii) the extent to which storm  protection  and  hardening  of  trans-
    14  mission  and  distribution  infrastructure  is  feasible, reasonable, or
    15  practical in certain  areas  of  the  corporation's  service  territory,
    16  including,  but  not  limited  to, coastal areas, flood zones, and rural
    17  areas;
    18    (iii) the estimated costs and benefits  to  the  corporation  and  its
    19  customers  of  making  the  improvements proposed in the plan, including
    20  considerations of equity in  the  plan  as  applied  across  the  entire
    21  service territory, with particular attention paid to the costs and bene-
    22  fits in undergrounding transmission and distribution lines;
    23    (iv) the timeline for implementation of the plan;
    24    (v)  whether the plan includes major performance benchmarks that meas-
    25  ure the effectiveness of the implementation of the plan;
    26    (vi) the estimated annual rate impact resulting from implementation of
    27  the plan during the first five years addressed in the plan;
    28    (vii) the extent to which the plan considers a multi-pronged  strategy
    29  appropriately  tailored  to  addressing  the  impacts of climate change,
    30  reducing restoration costs and outage times and enhancing infrastructure
    31  reliability, including,  but  not  limited  to,  vegetation  management,
    32  improvements  to system management practices, undergrounding of distrib-
    33  ution and transmission lines, replacement of obsolete cables, wires  and
    34  poles,  automation and circuit reconfiguration, investing in infrastruc-
    35  ture that supports the development of technologies  that  would  improve
    36  response  to  extreme  weather  events and reduce restoration costs, and
    37  system  resiliency  through  the  deployment   of   distributed   energy
    38  resources, and fortifying critical facilities;
    39    (viii) the extent to which the plan identifies opportunities for coor-
    40  dination  with municipalities, customer advocate groups, the independent
    41  system operator, the energy  research  and  development  authority,  and
    42  other utility or telecommunication service providers; and,
    43    (ix)  the  recommendations from the utility climate resilience working
    44  group established pursuant to paragraph (h) of this subdivision.
    45    (e) No later than eleven months after a corporation  files  a  climate
    46  resilience  plan  that  contains  all  of  the elements required by this
    47  subdivision, and after a public hearing on the plan, which shall include
    48  a public forum at a physical location, attended by commission members or
    49  their designees to take in written or oral comment, the commission shall
    50  determine whether it is in the public interest to approve or modify  the
    51  plan.
    52    (f)  At  least  every  five  years  after  approval of a corporation's
    53  climate resilience plan, the corporation must file for commission review
    54  an updated plan that addresses  each  element  specified  by  commission
    55  regulation.  The  commission shall approve, modify, or deny each updated
    56  plan pursuant to the criteria used to review the initial plan.

        A. 3360--A                          4
 
     1    (g) Each corporation shall make an annual filing to recover the corpo-
     2  ration's climate resilience plan costs through  a  charge  separate  and
     3  apart  from  its base rates, to be referred to as the climate resilience
     4  plan cost recovery clause. If the commission determines that such  costs
     5  are  just  and  reasonable,  in  the public interest, and were prudently
     6  incurred, those costs will not be subject  to  disallowance  or  further
     7  reasonableness  or  prudence review except for fraud, perjury, or inten-
     8  tional withholding of key information by  the  corporation,  or  if  the
     9  commission  finds  that  the corporation has imprudently implemented the
    10  plan. The annual climate resilience plan costs  may  not  include  costs
    11  recovered  through the corporation's base rates and must be allocated to
    12  customer classes pursuant to the rate design most recently  approved  by
    13  the  commission.    If a capital expenditure is recoverable as a climate
    14  resilience plan cost, the corporation may recover  the  annual  depreci-
    15  ation  on  the  cost,  calculated  at the corporation's current approved
    16  depreciation rates, and a return on the  undepreciated  balance  of  the
    17  costs  calculated  at the corporation's weighted average cost of capital
    18  using the last approved return on equity.
    19    (h) Each corporation shall  establish  a  utility  climate  resilience
    20  working  group  no  later than one year after the effective date of this
    21  subdivision. Such working group shall advise and make recommendations to
    22  the corporation and the commission on the development and implementation
    23  of the corporation's climate resilience plan. The working group shall be
    24  comprised of representatives from the department, and  municipal  repre-
    25  sentatives, customer advocacy groups, and energy and environmental advo-
    26  cacy  organizations. The working group shall meet at least twice annual-
    27  ly.
    28    (i) Each corporation shall provide to  the  county  executive  or  the
    29  chief  elected  official  of a county for each county within its service
    30  territory the most recent approved copy of the climate  resilience  plan
    31  required  pursuant  to this subdivision. For the purposes of an electric
    32  corporation operating within the city  of  New  York,  such  corporation
    33  shall provide the most recent approved climate resilience plan with both
    34  the  mayor's  office  and emergency management office of the city of New
    35  York.
    36    (j) The commission shall provide access  to  such  climate  resilience
    37  plans pursuant to article six of the public officers law.
    38    (k)  Beginning December first of the year after the first full year of
    39  implementation of a climate resilience plan and annually thereafter, the
    40  commission shall submit to the governor and the legislature a report  on
    41  the status of each corporation's activities to comply with the plan. The
    42  report shall include, but is not limited to, identification of all storm
    43  protection   and   resiliency   activities   completed  or  planned  for
    44  completion, the actual costs and rate impacts associated with  completed
    45  activities as compared to the estimated costs and rate impacts for those
    46  activities,  the estimated costs and rate impacts associated with activ-
    47  ities planned for completion, and the governance, planning,  and  opera-
    48  tional  activities  undertaken  by the corporation in furtherance of the
    49  climate resilience plan.
    50    (l) The commission shall promulgate  any  necessary  rules  and  regu-
    51  lations to implement and administer the provisions of this subdivision.
    52    §  3.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    53  have become a law.  Effective immediately, the promulgation of any rules
    54  or regulations by the Public Service Commission necessary for the imple-
    55  mentation of this act on its effective date are authorized  to  be  made
    56  and completed on or before such effective date.

        A. 3360--A                          5

     1                                   PART B
 
     2    Section  1.  The public service law is amended by adding a new section
     3  73 to read as follows:
     4    § 73. Compensation  to  customers  experiencing  widespread  prolonged
     5  outages.  1.  Notwithstanding  any  other provision of law, in the event
     6  that a residential utility customer or a small business customer experi-
     7  ences a widespread prolonged outage lasting at least seventy-two consec-
     8  utive hours or more without having been resolved by the utility company,
     9  the utility company shall:
    10    (a) Provide a credit of twenty-five dollars on  the  balance  of  such
    11  residential  utility  customer's account for each subsequent twenty-four
    12  hour period of service outage that occurs for such  customers  for  more
    13  than  seventy-two  consecutive  hours after the occurrence of such wide-
    14  spread prolonged outage.
    15    (b) Provide reimbursement of any food spoiled due to lack of refriger-
    16  ation.  Residential utility customers shall provide the utility  company
    17  an  itemized  list  of all food spoiled or proof of loss of food spoiled
    18  within fourteen days of the outage. The utility company shall  reimburse
    19  the  customer  within thirty days of the receipt of the itemized list or
    20  proof of loss, provided,  however,  that  if  the  utility  company  has
    21  applied for a waiver pursuant to subdivision three of this section, such
    22  utility  company shall reimburse the customer within a time period to be
    23  determined by the commission after the commission renders a decision  on
    24  the  waiver  request. The amount of the reimbursement shall not exceed a
    25  total of two hundred thirty-five dollars for customers  who  provide  an
    26  itemized list. The amount of the reimbursement for customers who provide
    27  proof of loss shall not exceed five hundred forty dollars.
    28    (c)  Provide  reimbursement  of prescription medication spoiled due to
    29  lack of refrigeration. Residential utility customers shall  provide  the
    30  utility  company with an itemized list and proof of loss of prescription
    31  medication due to lack of refrigeration  within  fourteen  days  of  the
    32  outage.  The  utility company shall reimburse the customer within thirty
    33  days of  the  receipt  of  the  itemized  list  and  proof  of  loss  of
    34  prescription  medication, provided, however, that if the utility company
    35  has applied for a waiver pursuant to subdivision three of this  section,
    36  such  utility  company shall reimburse the customer within a time period
    37  to be determined by the commission after the commission renders a  deci-
    38  sion  on the waiver request. The amount of the reimbursement shall total
    39  no more than the actual loss of perishable prescription medicine.
    40    (d) Provide reimbursement to small business  customers  for  any  food
    41  spoiled  due  to  lack  of refrigeration. Small business customers shall
    42  provide the utility company with an itemized list for all  food  spoiled
    43  and proof of loss within fourteen days of the outage. The utility compa-
    44  ny shall reimburse the small business customer within thirty days of the
    45  receipt  of the itemized list and proof of loss, provided, however, that
    46  if the utility company has applied for a waiver pursuant to  subdivision
    47  three  of  this  section, such utility company shall reimburse the small
    48  business customer within a time period to be determined by  the  commis-
    49  sion  after the commission renders a decision on the waiver request. The
    50  amount of their imbursement shall not exceed five hundred forty dollars.
    51    2. Any costs incurred by a utility company pursuant  to  this  section
    52  shall not be recoverable from ratepayers.
    53    3.  Not  later  than  fourteen calendar days after the occurrence of a
    54  widespread prolonged outage, a utility company may petition the  commis-
    55  sion for a waiver of the requirements of this section. The company shall

        A. 3360--A                          6
 
     1  have  the  burden  of  demonstrating  that  granting the waiver is fair,
     2  reasonable and in the public interest. In determining whether  to  grant
     3  such  waiver,  the  commission  shall  consider: (a) whether the company
     4  complied  with  their  submitted emergency response plan pursuant to the
     5  provisions of subdivision twenty-one of section sixty-six of this  arti-
     6  cle;  (b) whether any actions or omissions of the company contributed to
     7  the prolonging of the widespread prolonged  outage;  (c)  the  hardships
     8  endured  by  said  company's  customers  due to the widespread prolonged
     9  outage; (d) the severity of the widespread prolonged outage; (e)  condi-
    10  tions  on  the  ground  during  the  widespread prolonged outage and the
    11  subsequent restoration; (f) balancing of the equities; and (g) any other
    12  criteria the commission deems in the public interest  to  consider.  The
    13  commission  shall  issue  a  final  decision  regarding the grant of the
    14  requested waiver no later than forty-five days after submission  of  the
    15  petition.
    16    4.  The  commission  shall promulgate procedures, standards, methodol-
    17  ogies and rules necessary to implement the provisions of  this  section.
    18  Such  rules and regulations shall define the terms "widespread prolonged
    19  outage", "small business customer" and "proof of loss".
    20    § 2. Severability. If any provision of this  act  or  the  application
    21  thereof  to  any  person,  corporation or circumstances is held invalid,
    22  such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the
    23  act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or  applica-
    24  tion,  and  to  this  end  the provisions of this act are declared to be
    25  severable.
    26    § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
    27  it shall have become a law.  Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
    28  ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
    29  tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be  made  and
    30  completed on or before such effective date.
    31    § 2. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
    32  sion,  section  or  part  of  this act shall be adjudged by any court of
    33  competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment  shall  not  affect,
    34  impair,  or  invalidate  the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in
    35  its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph,  subdivision,  section
    36  or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg-
    37  ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of
    38  the  legislature  that  this  act  would  have been enacted even if such
    39  invalid provisions had not been included herein.
    40    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately  provided,  however,  that
    41  the  applicable effective date of parts A through B of this act shall be
    42  as specifically set forth in the last section of such parts.
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