By Tom Siebens*
February 1, 2025
First Priority Achieved: AMI
In 2024, the Electric Company completed installation of an automated metering infrastructure (“AMI”) system.
The AMI system is already saving money and benefiting ratepayers by enabling automated, rather than manual, meter reading, more accurate billing and faster, more accurate trouble-shooting within our electric network. For example, AMI data recently helped to correct seasonal voltage fluctuations in parts of the network simply by repositioning existing infrastructure.
In addition, the data from AMI is informing the work of the electrical engineering firm that is developing our long-term network modernization plan. The goal is to make the electric distribution network more efficient by, for example, reducing line losses of power and to increase the network’s capacity to meet the ever-growing demand for power on the island. Savings from AMI will help pay for this major planning work.
The New York Public Service Commission has authorized us to recover the $216,000 cost of the AMI system through a financing that can be repaid over ten years from a small system improvement charge on customers. The financing will provide the Electric Company with much-needed working capital.
Next Priority: Second Marine Cable
The critical next step in renovating the island’s electric network is the addition of a new, second, marine electric cable to Connecticut.
During the island-wide power outage this past July 9, the circuit breaker system for our existing marine cable to the mainland failed. The incident was a reminder of our community’s vulnerability in relying on a single marine cable for a continuous supply of electricity from the New England power grid. If the cable itself had failed, the island would have lost power for months.
A second marine cable will ensure that we always have alternative cable access to the New England grid, our most reliable source of power.
As of April 2024, the cost of a new cable is nearly $4.0 million, payable in full when ordering the cable. Manufacture takes a year or more.
Once a cable is delivered, installation costs approximately $4.5 million and takes one or two months. Infrastructure to operate two marine cables in parallel will add some costs.
Sources of funding for this cable project are being considered. For example, the Electric Company is in the process of applying for a loan program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The process will be slow, given the regulatory approvals required; we could have funds to order a cable in late 2027 for installation in late 2028 or in 2029.
Accelerating the timeline would be possible with alternative sources of funding. Efforts to identify such sources are on-going.
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* Tom Siebens is a director of Fishers Island Electric Corporation which is regulated by the New York State Public Service Commission and is owned partly by the Fishers Island Utility Company, Inc. and partly by Fishers Island Development Corporation.
