New York, NY – According to a capital-spending figures report that was issued just one day before the deadly gas explosion in East Harlem, some $47B is necessary to fix old iron and gas line infrastructure in the city over the next five years, a situation one industry expert calls “a ticking time bomb.”
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The NEW YORK POST (http://bit.ly/1kUGOQq) reports that, according to figures released by the state Public Service Commission, Con Edison last year exceed its budget for repairs by 18.6 percent, while also overspending by 5.8% their budget on replacing corroded steel mains.
Bob Ackley, a gas industry expert said about the city’s need to replace the old iron gas lines, “Gas companies around the country have been under the gun to get rid of this stuff. It’s a ticking time bomb.”
If this is true, and I have no doubt it is true, than they should double or triple ConEd’s gas distribution rates if necessary so they have the funds to fix the problems. We should pay whatever it costs to prevent another such tragedy. Some cities have already paid the price or are in in the midst of upgrading their gas systems so we cannot ask the Federal government to pay the costs for NYC and the few cities that have procrastinated on fixing their infrastructure.
The tick became a powerfull blast! Now Con man will cough up some bucks.
Con Ed has been given countless rate increases over the past x years but has done nothing to upgrade what is going on under the streets and buildings.
It is time they upgrade things and not choke the consumers for the upgrades.
They have been reaping huge profits all these years and doing nothing to modernize their systems other than make fancy offices for their execs and use new vehicles.