Bill Text: NY A07166 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: 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.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2024-03-27 - REFERRED TO ENERGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS [A07166 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A07166-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7166--A Cal. No. 200 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY May 11, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. OTIS, BURDICK, PAULIN, ROZIC, SAYEGH, SEAWRIGHT, SIMON, THIELE, ZEBROWSKI, JACOBSON, SHIMSKY -- read once and referred to the Committee on Energy -- ordered to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place on the order of third reading 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 separately amended by chapters 395 and 743 of the laws 3 of 2022, subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (a) as separately amended by 4 chapter 38 of the laws of 2023 and subparagraph (xi) of paragraph (a) as 5 separately amended by chapter 743 of the laws of 2022 and chapter 673 of 6 the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows: 7 (a) Each electric corporation subject to section twenty-five-a of this 8 chapter shall annually, on or before December fifteenth, submit to the 9 commission an emergency response plan for review and approval. The emer- 10 gency response plan shall be designed for the reasonably prompt restora- 11 tion of service in the case of an emergency event, defined for purposes 12 of this subdivision as an event where widespread outages have occurred 13 in the service territory of the company due to storms, cyber attack, or 14 other causes beyond the control of the company. To support reasonably 15 prompt restoration of service in the case of an emergency event, emer- 16 gency response plans should include details of staffing, equipment and a 17 performance schedule with the goal of achieving restoration of service 18 based upon a time-based restoration schedule established by the commis- 19 sion. In establishing such time-based restoration schedules, the commis- 20 sion should utilize benchmarks for the restoration of service which 21 include, but are not limited to, the percentage of customers restored 22 within each twenty-four-hour interval following the storm and consider- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03764-03-4A. 7166--A 2 1 ation of different kinds of storm events. The emergency response plan 2 shall include, but need not be limited to, the following: (i) the iden- 3 tification of management staff responsible for company operations during 4 an emergency; (ii) a communications system with customers during an 5 emergency that extends beyond normal business hours and business condi- 6 tions; (iii) identification of and outreach plans to customers who had 7 documented their need for essential electricity for medical needs, which 8 shall include but not be limited to, apnea monitors for infants, cuirass 9 respirators, hemodialysis machines, IV feeding machines, IV medical 10 infusion machines, oxygen concentrators, positive pressure respirators, 11 respirator/ventilators, rocking bed respirators, suction machines, and 12 tank type respirators; (iv) identification of and outreach plans to 13 customers who had documented their need for essential electricity to 14 provide critical telecommunications, critical transportation, critical 15 fuel distribution services or other large-load customers identified by 16 the commission; (v) designation of company staff to communicate with 17 local officials and appropriate regulatory agencies; (vi) provisions 18 regarding how the company will assure the safety of its employees and 19 contractors; (vii) procedures for deploying company and mutual aid crews 20 to work assignment areas; (viii) identification of additional supplies 21 and equipment needed during an emergency; (ix) the means of obtaining 22 additional supplies and equipment; (x) procedures to practice the emer- 23 gency response plan; (xi) appropriate safety precautions regarding elec- 24 trical hazards, including plans to promptly secure downed wires within 25 thirty-six hours of notification of the location of such downed wires 26 from a municipal emergency official or individual; (xii) plans setting 27 forth how the communication and coordination of efforts between the 28 electric corporation, electric corporation employees, electric corpo- 29 ration company crews, mutual aid crews, other utilities, local govern- 30 ments and any other entity performing services to assist such electric 31 corporation shall occur; and (xiii) such other additional information as 32 the commission may require. Each such corporation shall, on an annual 33 basis, undertake drills implementing procedures to practice its emergen- 34 cy management plan. The commission may adopt additional requirements 35 consistent with ensuring the reasonably prompt restoration of service in 36 the case of an emergency event. 37 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
