Senate Bill S2457

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2457
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 20, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sens. COMRIE, HARCKHAM, HINCHEY -- read twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on  Energy
   and Telecommunications
 
 AN  ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to  storm hardening
   and system resiliency plans

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Legislative findings. 1. The Legislature hereby finds and
 declares that, due to the rise in storm intensity, dedicated storm hard-
 ening programs need to be developed and implemented throughout New  York
 State to reduce damage and costs from future weather events. Storm hard-
 ening  is the process of constructing new, or upgrading old, infrastruc-
 ture to increase  resiliency  and  overall  reliability  during  weather
 events.  In  2018,  Winter  Storm  Riley  and Winter Storm Quinn greatly
 impacted New York's electric distribution  system  with  nearly  500,000
 customers  losing  power.  In August 2020, Tropical Storm Isaias brought
 high winds, downed trees and widespread power outages  to  much  of  the
 state; hundreds of thousands of customers in Long Island, New York City,
 Westchester  and  Rockland counties experienced extensive power outages,
 some lasting for more than a week. Legislative hearings following  these
 storms made it clear that enhanced storm hardening efforts are needed to
 mitigate  some  of  the  impacts  to the distribution infrastructure and
 customers.
   2. It is in  the  state's  interest  to  strengthen  electric  utility
 infrastructure  to withstand extreme weather conditions by promoting the
 hardening of electrical transmission and  distribution  facilities,  the
 undergrounding  of  certain  electrical distribution lines, and enhanced
 vegetation management, including the removal of danger trees;
   3. Protecting and strengthening transmission  and  distribution  elec-
 trical utility infrastructure from extreme weather conditions can effec-

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02124-01-3
 S. 2457                             2
              

 
 tively  reduce  restoration  costs  and  outage  times  to customers and
 improve overall service reliability for customers;
   4. It is in the state's interest for each utility to mitigate restora-
 tion  costs and outage times to utility customers when developing trans-
 mission and distribution storm protection plans; and
   5. All customers benefit from the reduced costs of storm restoration.
   § 2. Section 66 of the public service law is amended by adding  a  new
 subdivision 32 to read as follows:
   32.  (A) EACH ELECTRIC CORPORATION SUBJECT TO SECTION TWENTY-FIVE-A OF
 THIS CHAPTER SHALL, PURSUANT TO REGULATION BY THE COMMISSION,  SUBMIT  A
 STORM  HARDENING AND SYSTEM RESILIENCY PLAN TO THE COMMISSION FOR REVIEW
 AND APPROVAL.  EACH PLAN SHALL PROPOSE STORM  HARDENING  AND  RESILIENCY
 MEASURES  FOR  THE  NEXT  TEN  YEARS  AND  SHALL  EXPLAIN THE SYSTEMATIC
 APPROACH THE CORPORATION WILL FOLLOW TO ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVES OF  MITI-
 GATING  RESTORATION  COSTS  AND  REDUCING  OUTAGE  TIMES ASSOCIATED WITH
 EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS AND ENHANCING RELIABILITY, AS WELL AS SUCH  OTHER
 ADDITIONAL  OBJECTIVES THE COMMISSION MAY REQUIRE CONSISTENT WITH ENSUR-
 ING INCREASED RESILIENCY OF UTILITY INFRASTRUCTURE AND OVERALL RELIABIL-
 ITY DURING EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS.  THE COMMISSION SHALL ADOPT RULES  TO
 SPECIFY THE ELEMENTS THAT MUST BE INCLUDED IN A CORPORATION'S FILING FOR
 REVIEW OF STORM HARDENING AND SYSTEM RESILIENCY PLANS.
   (B)  IN  ITS REVIEW OF EACH STORM HARDENING AND SYSTEM RESILIENCY PLAN
 FILED PURSUANT TO THIS SUBDIVISION, THE COMMISSION  SHALL,  AT  MINIMUM,
 CONSIDER:
   (I)  THE  EXTENT TO WHICH THE PLAN IS EXPECTED TO MITIGATE RESTORATION
 COSTS AND REDUCE OUTAGE TIMES ASSOCIATED WITH EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS AND
 ENHANCE RELIABILITY, INCLUDING WHETHER THE PLAN EXAMINES AREAS OF  LOWER
 RELIABILITY PERFORMANCE;
   (II)  THE  EXTENT  TO  WHICH  STORM PROTECTION AND HARDENING OF TRANS-
 MISSION AND DISTRIBUTION  INFRASTRUCTURE  IS  FEASIBLE,  REASONABLE,  OR
 PRACTICAL  IN  CERTAIN  AREAS  OF  THE  CORPORATION'S SERVICE TERRITORY,
 INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, COASTAL AREAS,  FLOOD  ZONES,  AND  RURAL
 AREAS;
   (III)  THE  ESTIMATED  COSTS  AND  BENEFITS TO THE CORPORATION AND ITS
 CUSTOMERS OF MAKING THE IMPROVEMENTS PROPOSED IN THE PLAN;
   (IV) THE TIMELINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN;
   (V) WHETHER THE PLAN INCLUDES MAJOR PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS THAT  MEAS-
 URE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN;
   (VI) THE ESTIMATED ANNUAL RATE IMPACT RESULTING FROM IMPLEMENTATION OF
 THE PLAN DURING THE FIRST THREE YEARS ADDRESSED IN THE PLAN; AND
   (VII)  THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE PLAN CONSIDERS A MULTI-PRONGED STRATEGY
 APPROPRIATELY TAILORED TO REDUCING RESTORATION COSTS  AND  OUTAGE  TIMES
 AND ENHANCING INFRASTRUCTURE RELIABILITY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
 VEGETATION  MANAGEMENT,  IMPROVEMENTS  TO  SYSTEM  MANAGEMENT PRACTICES,
 UNDERGROUNDING OF DISTRIBUTION AND TRANSMISSION  LINES,  REPLACEMENT  OF
 OBSOLETE  CABLES,  WIRES  AND POLES, AUTOMATION AND CIRCUIT RECONFIGURA-
 TION, AND FORTIFYING CRITICAL FACILITIES.
   (C) NO LATER THAN ELEVEN MONTHS AFTER  A  CORPORATION  FILES  A  STORM
 HARDENING  AND  SYSTEM RESILIENCY PLAN THAT CONTAINS ALL OF THE ELEMENTS
 REQUIRED BY THIS SUBDIVISION AND THE COMMISSION,  THE  COMMISSION  SHALL
 DETERMINE  WHETHER IT IS IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST TO APPROVE OR MODIFY THE
 PLAN.
   (D) AT LEAST EVERY FIVE YEARS AFTER APPROVAL OF A CORPORATION'S  STORM
 HARDENING  AND  SYSTEM  RESILIENCY  PLAN,  THE CORPORATION MUST FILE FOR
 COMMISSION REVIEW AN UPDATED STORM HARDENING AND SYSTEM RESILIENCY  PLAN
 THAT  ADDRESSES  EACH  ELEMENT  SPECIFIED  BY COMMISSION REGULATION. THE
 S. 2457                             3
 
 COMMISSION SHALL APPROVE, MODIFY, OR DENY EACH UPDATED PLAN PURSUANT  TO
 THE CRITERIA USED TO REVIEW THE INITIAL PLAN.
   (E) EACH CORPORATION SHALL MAKE AN ANNUAL FILING TO RECOVER THE CORPO-
 RATION'S  STORM  HARDENING  AND  SYSTEM  RESILIENCY PLAN COSTS THROUGH A
 CHARGE SEPARATE AND APART FROM ITS BASE RATES, TO BE REFERRED TO AS  THE
 STORM  HARDENING PLAN COST RECOVERY CLAUSE. IF THE COMMISSION DETERMINES
 THAT SUCH COSTS ARE JUST AND REASONABLE, AND  WERE  PRUDENTLY  INCURRED,
 THOSE  COSTS  WILL NOT BE SUBJECT TO DISALLOWANCE OR FURTHER REASONABLE-
 NESS OR PRUDENCE REVIEW EXCEPT FOR FRAUD, PERJURY, OR INTENTIONAL  WITH-
 HOLDING  OF KEY INFORMATION BY THE CORPORATION. THE ANNUAL STORM HARDEN-
 ING PLAN COSTS MAY NOT INCLUDE COSTS RECOVERED THROUGH THE CORPORATION'S
 BASE RATES AND MUST BE ALLOCATED TO CUSTOMER  CLASSES  PURSUANT  TO  THE
 RATE  DESIGN  MOST  RECENTLY  APPROVED BY THE COMMISSION.   IF A CAPITAL
 EXPENDITURE IS RECOVERABLE AS A STORM HARDENING PLAN  COST,  THE  CORPO-
 RATION  MAY  RECOVER  THE ANNUAL DEPRECIATION ON THE COST, CALCULATED AT
 THE CORPORATION'S CURRENT APPROVED DEPRECIATION RATES, AND A  RETURN  ON
 THE  UNDEPRECIATED  BALANCE OF THE COSTS CALCULATED AT THE CORPORATION'S
 WEIGHTED AVERAGE COST OF CAPITAL USING THE LAST APPROVED RETURN ON EQUI-
 TY.
   (F) EACH CORPORATION SHALL PROVIDE TO  THE  COUNTY  EXECUTIVE  OR  THE
 CHIEF  ELECTED  OFFICIAL  OF A COUNTY FOR EACH COUNTY WITHIN ITS SERVICE
 TERRITORY THE MOST RECENT APPROVED  COPY  OF  THE  STORM  HARDENING  AND
 SYSTEM  RESILIENCY  PLAN  REQUIRED PURSUANT TO THIS SUBDIVISION. FOR THE
 PURPOSES OF AN ELECTRIC CORPORATION OPERATING WITHIN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW
 YORK,  SUCH  CORPORATION  SHALL  PROVIDE  THE MOST RECENT APPROVED STORM
 HARDENING AND SYSTEM RESILIENCY PLAN WITH BOTH THE  MAYOR'S  OFFICE  AND
 EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
   (G)  THE  COMMISSION  SHALL PROVIDE ACCESS TO SUCH STORM HARDENING AND
 SYSTEM RESILIENCY PLANS PURSUANT TO ARTICLE SIX OF THE  PUBLIC  OFFICERS
 LAW.
   (H)  BEGINNING DECEMBER FIRST OF THE YEAR AFTER THE FIRST FULL YEAR OF
 IMPLEMENTATION OF A STORM HARDENING AND SYSTEM RESILIENCY PLAN AND ANNU-
 ALLY THEREAFTER, THE COMMISSION SHALL SUBMIT TO  THE  GOVERNOR  AND  THE
 LEGISLATURE   A  REPORT  ON  THE  STATUS  OF  EACH  CORPORATION'S  STORM
 PROTECTION ACTIVITIES. THE REPORT SHALL INCLUDE, BUT IS NOT LIMITED  TO,
 IDENTIFICATION   OF  ALL  STORM  PROTECTION  AND  RESILIENCY  ACTIVITIES
 COMPLETED OR PLANNED FOR COMPLETION, THE ACTUAL COSTS AND  RATE  IMPACTS
 ASSOCIATED  WITH COMPLETED ACTIVITIES AS COMPARED TO THE ESTIMATED COSTS
 AND RATE IMPACTS FOR THOSE ACTIVITIES, AND THE ESTIMATED COSTS AND  RATE
 IMPACTS ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR COMPLETION.
   (I)  THE  COMMISSION  SHALL  PROMULGATE  ANY NECESSARY RULES AND REGU-
 LATIONS TO IMPLEMENT AND ADMINISTER THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SUBDIVISION.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it shall have become a law.  Effective immediately, the promulgation  of
 any  rules or regulations by the Public Service Commission necessary for
 the implementation of this act on its effective date are  authorized  to
 be made and completed on or before such effective date.