WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. By John F. Bailey. August 2, 2006: With the thermometer outside the WPCNR newsroom reading 93 in the shade as of 1 PM, a Con Edison spokesperson reports most of White Plains homes have been restored to power, only 24 remain without electricity in the city.

 Across Westchester, there are 2,244 homes without power. However, the Highlands residents sweltering last night have a power vigilante to thank for their restoration. WPCNR does caution there is a lag time between when customers are restored and when Con Edison reports them restored.

According to a White Plains CitizeNetReporter, one resident alone is responsible for bringing power back to the Highlands before midnight last night.  He told a story of how most of the 200 Highlands homes were restored  by early this morning. 

It began with a power-outted  resident driving about the area to see the extent of the outage, when he  encountered a Con Edison Utility Lineman leaving the Highlands neighborhood around 10PM. The citizen flashed his headlights, causing the Con Ed truck to stop. The citizen asked where he was going. The lineman said he was being called off to another trouble area in the county.

The citizen complained asking for someone he could call. The lineman said he was not allowed to give that information.  The resident told the lineman that he would give the lineman's truck license plate to the media if something was not done. (The resident reports that media was giving extensive coverage to a senior assisted living residence in Riverdale."Does this mean the way to get attention is to go to the media?" the resident asked our correspondent.)

The lineman then left the area. The resident returned to his home, called Con Edison again and was told the neighborhood could not expect restoration until 5 AM at the earliest. After the resident had gone to bed in his sultry house, he was awakened by his wife who said there was a beeping sound outside their home. It turned out it was the Con Edison lineman utility truck coming back.

The resident came down to the street and found out that the lineman had returned with a Con Edison foreman and they were hunting for a circuit breaker that had blown.

As the resident told our correspondent, "they were searching for a blown circuit breaker on the wire. They have to go  through the neighborhood looking at the wires to find where the circuit breaker is." A short time later about 11:45 P.M. the area to the North from Bryant to Bolton  and Old Mamaroneck Road to South Lexington was restored.

This is at odds with what the Con Edison press office told WPCNR at 12:15 that there were still 200 homes out, but it is understandable since Con Edison cannot tell when homes and businesses go out individually, that they would not know when they come back on either. So, there would be a "lag" time in reporting how many customers are restored.

The resident said he felt the Con Edison linemen and crews were working hard but appeared to be disorganized deploying at the whim of headquarters. He complained bitterly about the White Plains City Government not making any tours of the stricken Highlands last week to check on how residents were doing, nor providing any help in the forms of ice and water. He also complained that White Plains Police were not prepared to communicate timely information to  residents in an emergency.

The resident said he felt the Con Edison linemen and crews were working hard but appeared to be disorganized deploying at the whim of headquarters. He complained bitterly about the White Plains City Government not making any tours of the stricken Highlands July 18-23 to check on how residents were doing, nor providing any help in the forms of ice and water. He also complained that White Plains Police were not prepared to communicate timely information to  residents in an emergency.

The resident also asked the foreman on infrastructure, saying if we're using too much electricity, does that mean the infrastructure needs replacing. The foreman said, according to the resident, absolutely not, that Con Edison had put in four new substations in downtown White Plains.

The resident reports talking to the foreman supervising the lineman, asking him what could have caused the outage in the Highlands.

The foreman said "You're using too much electricity."