Power Out in Western Queens and Long Island City

Western Queens continues to suffer with power outages and voltage reduction for three days affecting Long Island City, Astoria, Sunnyside, and Woodside. Or Con Ed says, "The affected area is bounded by the East River on the west and north, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on the east and Newtown Creek on the south."

Con Ed lost 10 of its 22 feeders in Long Island City, and only six are back in service. Businesses and residents are asked to reduce their power use, and turn off non-essential electrical appliances, such as A/Cs and televisions. You might as well stay at work, or head to the beach, folks. Power may not be fully restored for days.

If you lost food due to spoilage while the power was out, you can submit a claim to Con Ed. They'll reimburse you up to $350 for spoiled food. Businesses can claim up to $7,000.

• Con Ed - Power Outage Claims/Compensation Form

The Con Ed power failure also affected subway service in western Queens yesterday, but subways appear to be running normally today. The MTA blamed Con Ed for the problems with the commute.

Update - Tipster Nick writes that:

Long before losing 9 feeders the entire network should have been shutdown ( turned off ) to prevent damage to the distribution system. This is an established, historical operational procedure of an electric utility.

The System Controlers are responsible to protect the Distribution System, which they did not do. And the delay in restoring service is due to this failure to shut the network down. Much of the equipment is damaged because the network was not shutdown.

The System Contollers probably had their hands tied by certain Vice Presidents that know more about politics than how to run an electric company.

• 25, 000 New Yorkers Are Without Power - 5th Day [NY Times]
• Power Failures Disrupt Commute and Storm Downs Lines in Region [NY Times]
• Queens Lawmakers Push For Mayor To Intervene In Power Outages [NY1]
• Keep Cool in Queens
• Con Ed website