CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

New York State Electric and Gas recorded its worst performance year in 20 years in 2007, and trees were the root of the problem, according to a report released earlier this month.

Tree contact was linked to 39 percent of all NYSEG outages in 2007, according to a staff report by the state Public Service Commission. Though commission staff recommended NYSEG study field crew staff, it was not required in the terms of the Iberdrola takeover that happened earlier this month.

NYSEG reliability was among the worst in the state in both frequency of power outages and the duration of those outages. Only Central Hudson Gas and Electric, which improved its 2007 performance compared with 2005 and 2006, performed worse than NYSEG.

NYSEG and Central Hudson Gas and Electric were the only utilities to cite tree contact as the primary cause of outages, according to the report. NYSEG attributed the increased outages to an increase in minor storms, according to the report.

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