BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Governor Andrew Cuomo is putting utility companies on notice. He wants companies, especially power companies, to step it up and respond to outages quickly and efficiently.
In a press conference Wednesday morning, Cuomo said, "We expect a better level of service" from power companies. He was quick to mention NYSEG, explaining the company is not good at communicating outages.
Cuomo said, in a two-minute monologue, "If we know there are people without power, that is an emergency and something we can be helpful with."
NYSEG issued a response, at our request:
"NYSEG begins proactively communicating in advance of storms to provide timely information to our customers and local officials about storm preparations, safety and outage information, and restoration times. The Company is in direct contact with local municipalities, issues press releases, and directly emails impacted customers with updates. NYSEG also encourages customers to sign up for Outage Alerts to receive updates throughout an event automatically by phone, text, or email as the company updates the status of any restoration process in their area. The Company also provides updates through its social media channels on Twitter and Facebook.”
The governor said the company should be at the table in the Erie County Emergency Operations Center.
County Executive Mark Poloncarz echoed the governor's statement. He said the county has a strong relationship with National Grid.
There were no power outages to report when this statement was made by Poloncarz or Cuomo.
