BILL NUMBER: S6702
SPONSOR: FERNANDEZ
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public service law and the public authorities law,
in relation to requiring the results of any outage management system
stress test conducted in the state by a utility company to be posted
online
 
PURPOSE:
This legislation would require the results of any outage management
system stress test conducted in the state by a utility company to be
posted on the department's website.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 adds a new section 54 to the public service law to require the
department to post on their website the results of any outage management
stress test conducted in New York by a utility corporation, water muni-
cipality, or locally publicly owned electric or gas corporation. This
report is also to be sent to appropriate Members in the Senate and
Assembly. This legislation also defines outage management system stress
test as a test conducted by a utility to determine the ability of such
utility to handle and respond to large scale weather events or natural
disasters that are likely to result in the loss of service to customers.
Section 2 adds a new section 120-mm to title 1-A of article 5 of the
public authorities law to require the department to post on their
website the results of any outage management stress test conducted in
New York by LIPA or its service provider. This report is also to be sent
to appropriate Members in the Senate and Assembly. This legislation also
defines outage management system stress testòas a test conducted by a
utility to determine the ability of such utility to handle and respond
to large scale weather events or natural disasters that are likely to
result in the loss of service to customers.
Section 3 sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Utilities routinely undergo outage management stress tests to better
understand their capability to react to weather events or natural disas-
ters. However, they currently do not need to disclose the results of
these tests, therefore when instances of failure to meet certain bench-
marks are met, this information is not shared. This legislation does not
require more frequent, or any different types of tests currently being
undertaken. Rather, all this legislation attempts to do is shine a light
on the results of these tests. LIPA upon investigation of PSEG's handl-
ing of Tropical Storm Isaias found that PSEG was routinely failing these
stress tests, a fact that only become known after 646,000 outages
occurred. This legislation would make the results of these stress tests
public, and allow for issues to be more quickly addressed.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22: A6956-Referred to Corporations, Authorities and Commissions
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.