Although U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has been soundingthe alarm all over the country about problems with the nation’selectric reliability because of at least six power outages thatoccurred last summer, several utility executives told the secretarylast week at a regional “summit meeting” in Newark, NJ, that theyare ready and waiting for the next summer demand peak.

Despite experiencing outages last summer, New Jersey utilitiesGPU Energy and Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) and NewYork’s Consolidated Edison are ready to handle the load this timearound, utility officials told the DOE secretary.

“We’re probably going to be in pretty good shape this summer,”said E. Ferland, CEO of PSE&G. “We haven’t done our job unlesswe have maintained a reliable system, which we will do… I don’tthink there’s any question that we will have a reliable system[this summer].”

According to a DOE report on last summer’s outages, PSE&Ghad several problems during a heat wave July 5-8, including outagesat several substations and on one of its transmission lines thatcut power to about 12,600 people for several hours.

Ferland said that four out of five proposed power generatingstations (80-90 MW each) will be in service before this summer’speak in power demand. “If reliability moves away from us in thewrong way, we really have dropped the ball because there’s noreason in the world for that to take place,” said Ferland. “As faras the reinforcements to the transmission systems [that may berequired] and we stand fully ready to commit capital as required tobuild those facilities.”

In a statement, he highlighted several other actions taken sincelast summer by PSE&G. In addition to the new power generation,the company has “speeded up investment in key areas of ourdistribution” system, upgraded an energy management system tobetter monitor energy flows and to improve the integration ofinformation with the PJM ISO, and along with other utilities hasinvested $120 million to provide PJM with the latest computersoftware and hardware.

GPU also is on top of the situation, said President Michael J.Chesser. GPU experienced an outage during the heat wave July 5related to the malfunction of four transformers that cut power to100,000 people. Service wasn’t completely restored for up to threedays. Chesser told Richardson that in the short-term “it looks tome that GPU is as well or better positioned to handle distributionreliability issues this summer than it ever has been. It hasstepped up investments strategically, and it also worked with the[state regulatory] commission to make sure those investments arebeing targeted where they’ll produce the greatest return.”

ConEdison joined the club, too. An official said the utility hasworked hard to eliminate the problems that caused 68,000 of itscustomers to lose power July 6 in northern Manhattan. “We haveinvested an incremental figure of $100 million in our T&Dsystem, mostly in distribution to ensure that we will be ready forthis coming summer.” He said ConEd does not believe it’sappropriate to invest in a major new transmission line at thistime.

In a public statement following the summit meeting, ConEdisonsaid it will spend an additional $315 million on a comprehensivefive-year program to improve its electrical distribution systemthroughout its service area of New York City and WestchesterCounty.

“Perhaps we’ve been a little too worried about this area,”Richardson responded. But he added that some work still needs to bedone.

Richardson announced six short-term actions DOE “designed tokeep the lights on this summer.” He announced the actions atregional summits in Hartford, CT, Newark, New Orleans andSacramento, last week to federal, state and local governmentofficials, regulators, consumers and the utilities.

He said the DOE would do the following:

Work with other agencies to identify opportunities to reduceelectric consumption at federal water projects during times of peakdemand;

Urge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and stateutilities commissions to solicit and approve tariffs that will helpreduce electricity demand during peak periods. For instance, largeindustrial consumers could find it to their advantage to sell powerback to their utility if it would be profitable;

Explore opportunities for the use of existing backup generatorsduring power supply emergencies to reduce the strain on electricsystems and help avoid blackouts;

Conduct an emergency exercise with state and local governmentsto help prepare for potential summer power supply emergencies;

Work closely with the utility industry to gain up-to-daterelevant information about potential grid-related problems asquickly as possible;

And prepare public service announcements to provide tips to helpconsumers reduce electricity use and lower their bills.

Rocco Canonica

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