Int. No. 985-A
By Council Members Comrie, Arroyo, Crowley, Cabrera, Dickens, Fidler, Gentile, Greenfield, James, Koslowitz, Palma, Vallone, Williams, Chin, Nelson, Rodriguez, Koppell, Gonzalez, Vacca, Jackson, King, Rose, Dromm, Weprin, Garodnick, Barron, Levin, Eugene, Gennaro, Koo, Lappin, Halloran and Ulrich
A Local Law in relation to underground power lines.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Study of underground power lines. a. The office of long-term planning and sustainability shall conduct a study of the utilization of underground power lines in the city and submit the findings of such study to the mayor and council within six months of the effective date of this local law.
b. To the extent that the data required below has been made available by local electric corporations that provide electric service in the city, such study shall include, but not be limited to:
1. General information. Disaggregated by borough, and by community district or other areas as defined by the office of long-term planning and sustainability, the names of local electric corporations that provide electric service in the city, and for each such electric corporation the number of residential and commercial customers, respectively, and the estimated number of persons serviced by underground power lines and above ground power lines, respectively, and the average cost per mile for maintenance and repair of underground power lines and above ground power lines, respectively, for the most recent calendar year that such data is available.
2. Weather related outages. Disaggregated by borough, and by community district or other areas as defined by the office of long-term planning and sustainability, the total number of power outages resulting from a failure of all infrastructure servicing a customer that were directly caused by damage resulting from weather events for the past five years, including, but not limited to, damage resulting from: trees and wires downed by wind, snow or ice; heat; cold; rain; and flooding. The study shall provide a summary and statistical analysis of the data collected on each outage, including (i) the number of customers affected, (ii) the estimated number of persons affected, (iii) critical infrastructure affected, (iv) whether the power lines were underground or above ground, (v) the cause and length of time of each such outage, and (vi) the costs of restoring service.
3. General network reliability. Disaggregated by borough, and by community district or other areas as defined by the office of long-term planning and sustainability, the total number of power outages resulting from a failure of all infrastructure servicing a customer other than those directly caused by damage resulting from weather events for the most recent calendar year that such data is available, disaggregated by the cause of such outages. The study shall provide a summary and statistical analysis of the data collected on each outage, including (i) the number of customers affected, (ii) the estimated number of persons affected, (iii) critical infrastructure affected, (iv) whether the power lines were underground or above ground, (v) the cause and length of time of each such outage, and (vi) the costs of restoring service.
4. Costs of undergrounding power lines. The estimated per mile cost of undergrounding power lines within the city of New York, including a breakdown of the costs for labor and materials, and the variables, including population density, that would affect the final cost of undergrounding.
5. Recommendations. A list of neighborhoods or service areas where relocating above ground power lines to underground locations would not be practical or would result in more severe power outages and the considerations that went into such determination; and a list of neighborhoods or service areas where relocating above ground power lines to underground locations would be most advantageous and the considerations that went into such determination.
ยง2. This local law shall take effect immediately.
1/28/13 802pm