By Forum Staff
The State Public Service Commission on Thursday considered a final long-term gas proposal of the National Grid companies and required the companies to implement various actions over the next three years regarding future long-term plans.
Specifically, the commission directed the three National Grid companies — The Brooklyn Union Gas Company, KeySpan Gas East Corporation, and Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation — to report on necessary improvements to demand forecasting and submit analyses regarding the Greenpoint Liquefied Natural Gas facility in Brooklyn, non-pipe alternatives, and electrification. The commission also directed the companies to report on how they will optimize supply sources in the event that the proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement, or NESE, project is placed into service and, in the alternative, report on how to address reliability concerns in the event that NESE is not placed in service. Taken together, the three companies have approximately 2.5 million gas customers in the Empire State, making it the largest natural gas delivery system in New York.
Thursday’s decision referenced recent examples of gas outages, and near-misses, caused by interruptions on the interstate gas pipeline system serving the downstate region, which for many years has been characterized as vulnerable to pipeline constraints and interruptions. Unlike electrical outages that are restored to customers as soon as the utility repairs the damage, gas outage restorations require visits to each customer’s home or business to carefully bring each customer back on line. As part of the restoration process, utility workers must partner with locksmiths and law enforcement to access all affected homes on two separate occasions—first to turn off gas appliances and then to re-light the appliances when pressure is restored on the pipeline. Given these logistical challenges, a widespread outage affecting tens of thousands of customers or more could take weeks or months to restore critical energy service.
As part of its review, the Commission considered advice from independent third-party expert analysts, as well as stakeholder input, including from the NYC, Environmental Defense Fund, Sane Energy, Community Board 1, State Sen. Julia Salazar (D-Brooklyn), Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon (D-Brooklyn), a joint letter from 36 members of the State Legislature, other elected officials, the State Laborers Organizing Fund, IBEW Local Union 1049, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, and others interested in economic development.
Given this advice and stakeholder input, the commission directed the companies to file additional information. Specifically, the commission directed the utilities to report on load forecasting improvements, cost mitigation efforts related to shedding more expensive capacity assets if the proposed NESE pipeline project is constructed, and other measures that could mitigate the cost impacts of adding NESE capacity such as increased off-system sales revenue. In addition, the commission required National Grid to file annual updates to this long-term plan and its next long-term plan filing in three years, including efforts to deploy non-pipe alternatives (including the results of solicitations for such alternatives for the purpose of retiring leak prone pipe). The commission also directed National Grid to analyze the possibility of decommissioning the Greenpoint LNG facility and provide alternatives for demand-side and supply-side options to accomplish that if the NESE project is completed. The commission also directed National Grid to update its long-term plan with options to improve the resilience of the downstate gas system in the event NESE is not constructed and placed into service.
