ALBANY - The State Public Service Commission (Commission) today completed a statewide examination of the state’s utilities preparation for and response to the series of devastating storms that wracked New York in the summer and fall of 2011. The review determined that while many improvements from prior storms have enhanced utility performance, all the State’s utilities need to improve emergency preparation, restoration performance, and communication with customers, public officials, and the media during severe weather conditions that lead to downed power lines and widespread outages.

Last year, in response to the series of unprecedented, nearly back-to-back Tropical Storms Irene and Lee, Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered a thorough and complete review of the storm-restoration activities of all of the state’s utilities, electric, natural gas, and telecommunications.

 “I personally saw the devastating destruction that Hurricane Irene and the other storms caused to downstate and upstate communities,” said Governor Cuomo. “With the recommendations in hand, utilities will be able to better prepare for and respond to storms. While we can’t eliminate the threat of outages, we can work to reduce the outages that occur and we can find ways to restore power more quickly and communicate necessary information more effectively.”

In total, 1.1 million electric customers lost service due to Irene and some 68,000 electric customers lost service due to Tropical Storm Lee. Furthermore, more than 900,000 telecommunications customers were without service, mostly due to wide-scale power outages.

In addition to reviews of utility performance during Irene and Lee, the October 29, 2011 nor’easter, which left more than 400,000 customers without electricity was also examined. In that storm, four utilities were affected. Due to the significant amount of snowfall and the severe devastation to leaf-laden trees, full restoration took between six to eight days.

The three separate reports presented today to the Commission put forth more than 100 recommendations overall on ways to improve communication, restore power more quickly, and reduce the total number of outages that might occur.