Why Does Con Edison Treat Westchester Residents Like Second Class Citizens?

Here is a letter written by Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner about Con Edison repair work in Westchester: To the Editor: Hurricane Irene left a good portion of Greenburgh and Westchester out of power. Con Ed issued a press release after the storm that indicated that most of their NYC customers would have their power restored by Tuesday night and Westchester customers would get their power restored two days later--by late Thursday night.

I realize that Con Ed cannot restore everyones power immediately after a storm but question why Westchester ratepayers are treated like second class citizens. After every storm Westchester customers wait much longer to have power restored than our NYC neighbors. We pay the same rates as NYC customers pay but don't get treated equally. Why should NYC customers always get their power restored first--a few days before Westchester customers?

My home phone is ringing off the hook with calls from senior citizens and disabled residents who experience real hardships whenever there are power outages. I think it would be fairer if Con Ed treated all of their customers the same----and if they would spread their crews around their service area until power is restored to all. Another option: they should rotate the order of service restorations--during one outage NYC should get service restored first and Westchester second. The second outage Westchester gets power restored first and NYC gets it second.
PAUL FEINER
Greenburgh Town Supervisor