CASE and county flag gaps in NYSEG resiliency plan; county to join tabletop study of gas-system contraction

The county’s Climate and Sustainable Energy board (CASE) and planning staff reported March 10 that they reviewed New York State Electric & Gas Co.’s (NYSEG) grid vulnerability and resilience filings and found the utility’s plan deficient in key respects. The county will participate in a related tabletop study to explore strategic contraction and alternatives for the local gas distribution system as electrification grows.

Irene Weiser, 2025 chair of the Climate and Sustainable Energy Board, summarized the background: state law required utilities to evaluate grid vulnerabilities to climate change and propose adaptation and resilience investments for 5-, 10- and 20-year horizons. "Our evaluation of NYSEG's plan, I to summarize, there was no there there…it seemed implausible, inadequate, and lacking in innovation," Weiser said, adding that the plan did not include required expenditure detail, performance benchmarks or community-focused communications and coordination.

CASE submitted written comments and the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) agreed with many of those concerns. The PSC ordered NYSEG to refile a revised plan; the commission’s order said NYSEG’s plan failed to address minimum statutory and ordering requirements and instructed the company to provide additional analysis and details.

Weiser and staff also described a separate PSC-ordered proceeding that requires gas utilities to file greenhouse-gas-reduction plans. As part of that proceeding, the PSC authorized a pilot tabletop exercise in Tompkins County to model how a utility might strategically manage contraction of gas distribution (for example, pruning low-use dead-end mains) while coordinating the electric system and other alternatives. Weiser stressed the tabletop is a planning exercise, not an immediate policy action. "This is…a pilot study to imagine how we would strategically decommission or contract the gas system over time," she said, noting the project will involve multiple stakeholders, technical analysis and likely public engagement.

County planning staff said the tabletop will draw on technical tools, including a Cornell digital twin model, and involve local stakeholders such as the city of Ithaca, environmental groups and affordable-housing partners. The county expects NYSEG to file a rate case in May; elements of the resiliency and gas plans may be folded into future rate filings, which the PSC typically finalizes the following year. Staff said they will provide more detail to the Legislature and coordinate on how to participate while respecting confidentiality rules in rate-case negotiations.

No committee action was required at the meeting; staff said they will return with updates as the filings and tabletop study proceed.