PSEG Long Island, the region’s electrical power provider, announced this week that work has begun to prepare for winter storms and improve the reliability of its circuits in East Hampton Village, Springs, and Northwest Harbor.
As part of its Power On program, PSEG said it expects the work to continue for four more months. The storm-hardening upgrades include replacing existing utility poles with stronger ones; installing shorter cross-arms on some poles to deflect falling tree limbs; replacing current wires with stronger wire, and generally upgrading or replacing equipment where crews deem it necessary.
The Power On program began in spring 2020. Since its launch, PSEG said, “more than 384 miles of the most vulnerable distribution mainline and branch line circuits on Long Island and in the Rockaways have been storm-hardened with stronger poles, thicker wire, and other modern equipment.”
The utility said its overall goal is to prevent more of the outages that customers may experience during inclement weather. If outages do occur, PSEG said it expects their duration to be shorter, particularly during extreme weather.
Compared with the rest of the distribution system, other regions where PSEG has completed similar storm-hardening have seen a 72-percent overall reduction in damage leading to outages between 2016 and 2023. That data, however, does not include extreme weather events, PSEG said.
“We are working hard to reduce the number of outages that occur during severe weather by strengthening the electric lines that directly power homes and businesses,” Peggy Keane, PSEG Long Island’s vice president of construction and operations services, said in a statement.
The specific areas PSEG is addressing this fall include Boatheaders Lane, Middle Highway, Oakview Highway, Miller Lane West, Sherrill Road, King’s Point Road, Hog Creek Road, Three Mile Harbor-Hog Creek Road, and Fort Pond Boulevard. Work is also being done on Abraham’s Path between Three Mile Harbor-Hog Creek Road and Gordon Street, as well as the western portion of Soak Hides Road.
