Con Edison's Response to Safety Concerns on Natural Gas Facilities

Con Edison, a leading utility company in New York, has been facing safety concerns regarding its natural gas facilities. In response to a document issued by the New York State Department of Public Service, Con Edison has submitted a revised plan to address the concerns, which includes developing a random sampling plan, visual inspections, and a peer-checking process for plastic fusions. The company has also increased the frequency of distribution main leak surveys, exceeding the current requirement, and will continue to file monthly reports with the Secretary until assessment and mitigation efforts are completed.

Key Takeaways:

• Con Edison has committed to work with Staff and an independent statistician to develop a random sampling plan to replace the opportunistic sampling plan.
• The revised plan will include definition of a failure and a process for determining appropriate measures to be taken if the results are determined to be other than acceptable.
• The Company will visually inspect plastic fusions that are exposed through normal/routine gas operations and maintenance activities and remediate plastic fusions that fail visual inspection.
• Con Edison is developing a peer-checking process (i.e., visual inspection by someone other than the person that performed the fusion) that will be integrated into the process for future plastic fusion work.
• The number of leaking fusions on the Company's system found to have had workmanship deficiencies is very low (i.e., 25 workmanship failures out of approximately 800,000 plastic fusions performed since 2002).
• Con Edison increased the frequency of distribution main leak surveys to monthly, exceeding the current requirement to survey the distribution system once each year.
• The Company plans to continue these increased leak surveys and will work with staff prior to modifying or discontinuing them.
• Con Edison will continue to file monthly reports with the Secretary until assessment and mitigation efforts (if necessary) are completed.

Statistics:

• 25 workmanship failures among approximately 800,000 plastic fusions performed since 2002 on Con Edison's system.
• 12 additional distribution surveys each year as a result of increasing the frequency of distribution main leak surveys to monthly.
• 800,000 plastic fusions performed since 2002 on Con Edison's system.

Sources:

• New York State Department of Public Service
• Con Edison Company of New York, Inc.
• Letter from Cheryl Payne, Vice President Gas Engineering, Con Edison to Mr. Kevin Speicher, Chief, Safety Section, Office of Electric, Gas & Water, State of New York Department of Public Service, dated April 8, 2015.