MONTICELLO – Local officials in the towns of Highland and Tusten have told top regional representatives of NYSEG that they are fed up with power outages and they want them remedied.
“Constituents in my district have told me how incredibly disruptive and dangerous these repeated outages have become. More than 100 power failures have occurred in 2019 alone,” Sullivan County Legislature Chairman and District 1 Legislator Rob Doherty said. “NYSEG has to take action, and I initiated this meeting with them to ensure that happens. We can’t let this continue any longer.”
Legislator Nadia Rajsz, who represents a port of the Town of Highland, said the outages are “a huge inconvenience to everyone, especially those working from home or dependent on electrically powered medical equipment. Considering the impacts on our health and economy, it’s imperative NYSEG expedites a fix to this ongoing problem.”
NYSEG representatives told the officials, including Highland Supervisor Jeff Haas and Tusten Supervisor Ben Johnson, that what’s known as the Yulan Circuit is aging and prone to failures. They are planning to replace that infrastructure once a rate increase is approved by New York State. In the meantime, they are increasing the ranks of linemen and have already embarked on an aggressive forestry management program, cutting away branches and trees which threaten to take down power lines.
“NYSEG does have a rate increase in front of the New York State Public Service Commission, for which they are in hearings currently. But it seems like our repair schedule will be altered if they do not receive the increase,” said Haas. “This is a much-needed, 10-year project upgrade for the Yulan area, which currently has the worst circuitry in NYSEG’s New York State district. Our infrastructure is 1930s-vintage – we deserve better.”
