Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York

New York, NY, U.S.A. --- (METERING.COM) --- November 13, 2012 - In the wake of Hurricane Sandy New York governor Andrew Cuomo is to seek funding of at least $30 billion for a smart grid and other infrastructure to assist the state in its recovery and to start strengthening it to deal with future such events.

Citing state administration officials the New York Times has reported that funding would cover repairs to bridges, tunnels, railways, the subway system and homes, as well as the costs of emergency and other government personnel.

In all Sandy is believed to have caused more than $50 billion in damage in the New York region.

No amount is specified for the smart grid in the funding plan, which is reported as still under development, but earlier estimates have put its cost at about $30 billion over 10 years.

Such was the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy that it has taken two weeks, and the assistance of more than 7,000 linemen from across the nation, to restore power to almost all of the homes and businesses affected. In a weekend statement the New York State Public Service Commission said that power had been restored to almost 97 percent of the 2.1 million customers affected in New York. Most of the remaining premises that still need restoration also need customer repairs.

A full evaluation of the role of smart grid in a situation such as Sandy has yet to be done, but obvious potential benefits include outage information for customers and remote disconnection.