I asked Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Director of Communications Bryant Daniels today:
Con Ed is all over Roosevelt Island from the Sportspark/Tram area
to the middle of Island.
Do you know what they are doing?
Mr Daniels replied:
Two separate operations: at Sportspark, they’re repairing some burnt out wiring that had briefly caused black smoke to emanate from the manhole cover several nights ago. The problem did not affect any building’s electric.
On the middle of the island, they’re performing some maintenance work on the feeders that go to the C&C buildings. They brought in emergency backup generators in case the work disrupts building service—though there are no reported power outages so far—and the buildings were notified ahead of time. PSD is also on site helping with traffic control.
This is a welcome improvement in relationship between RIOC and the Roosevelt Island media.
Manhattan Park tenants; have you received an absurdly expensive electricity
bill this month, and have you agreed to pay for it? I'm tired of this sh*t.
I asked Manhattan Park management:
I have heard from several Manhattan Park residents very upset over what they
describe as very high electricity bills recently received from Manhattan
Park.
According to these residents, Manhattan Park failed to send electricity
bills for several months last year and are now billing for those months. Is
that true?
Some Manhattan Park residents question the accuracy of their electric bills
as well. Are there other reasons for the recent high electric bills for
Manhattan Park residents that are different from tenants in the rest of
NYC?
Also, residents have asked if the Holiday Lights in the Park area are
included in the residents electric bill?
A Manhattan Park management spokesperson answered:
The situation regarding the electricity billing for residents at Manhattan
Park was the result of a delay in receiving invoices from the energy service
company (ESCO) that provides electricity supply. The ESCO was recently
contracted by ownership to provide less expensive electricity to the residents
than would otherwise be charged by Con Edison. Con Edison continues to deliver
the electricity to the residents.
The delay in receiving invoices resulted in the residents being undercharged
for their electricity usage for the months of July – November 2021 as they
were only charged for the cost of delivery and not for the actual supply of
electricity. The revised billing reflects charges for actual usage so the
residents are only being charged for the electricity that was actually being
consumed by the residents in their individual units. To help alleviate any
financial burdens or inconveniences for the residents, we negotiated a 10%
discount for such electricity charges during those five months. In addition
to the discount, we have offered residents payment plans so that these
charges can be paid over the course of one year. It should be noted that the
electricity billings at Manhattan Park only include actual costs for the
supply and delivery of electricity and do not include any markup or profit.
The ESCO has resolved their invoicing issues so we do not anticipate any
further delays.
Manhattan Park management sent this April 25 letter to residents explaining
their electricity bills
Dear Resident:
We are writing to you about your electricity bills at Manhattan Park. As you
may be aware, the electricity bills that you receive each month are
comprised of two separate charges: (1) the cost for the delivery of
electricity; and (2) the cost of the electricity itself, or supply. Con
Edison of New York (“Con Ed”) has always supplied and delivered the
electricity to the residents of Manhattan Park.
In an effort to seek ways to reduce electricity costs, Management engaged
with energy consultant Integrated Energy Partners Inc. to see if there were
other energy companies that could supply electricity on a more
cost-effective basis than Con Ed. After reviewing supply proposals with the
consultant over several months, Management entered into a new agreement in
June of 2021 with ENGIE Power & Gas LLC (“ENGIE”), an energy-service
company approved by the NYS Public Service Commission, to supply electricity
to Manhattan Park. Con Ed, however, remained as the company physically
delivering the electricity to the site. Both ENGIE and Con Ed were to
provide separate bills to Management for their respective services, ENGIE
for electricity supply and Con Ed for electricity delivery. In turn,
Quadlogic Controls Corporation (“Quadlogic”), the independent third-party
submetering consultant, would utilize these bills to calculate the charges
to bill the residents only for their portion of electricity usage.
Unfortunately, due to an administrative error at the start of the ENGIE
agreement that was further magnified by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the
first five months of ENGIE’s electricity invoices for the supply portion of
the charges (covering the period of July-November 2021) were not received by
Management. As a result, all electricity bills for the months of
July-November only included the delivery charges applicable to electric
usage but did not include charges for the actual electricity itself.
Notwithstanding the delayed billing, these amounts are due and owing under
your lease and will need to be paid by the residents. Your apartment’s
outstanding electricity supply charges for the five-month period in question
will be shown as a separate line-item in your next billing statement from
Quadlogic.
We recognize that this could create a financial burden on residents, so we
have formulated a plan to assist. Please note the following:
Management was able to negotiate a 10% reduction from ENGIE for the
outstanding charges. This discount will in turn be passed onto the tenants
in full as part of the retroactive billing. To reiterate, residents will
only be charged for the electricity that was supplied and used (but not
yet billed for) during this five-month period.
Management is willing to offer all residents a payment plan of up to 12
months (depending on the remaining term of your lease) to repay the
outstanding amounts. If your household needs additional time to re-pay the
outstanding ENGIE supply charges, please contact the management office at
(212) 759-8660 at your earliest convenience to discuss the possibility of
a longer repayment period tailored to your household’s financial
circumstances.
We apologize for this inconvenience and would like to reassure you that we
have taken steps to make sure that billing issues like this will not happen
again. Please feel free to reach out to the management office if you have
any other questions or concerns regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
GRC Management LLC
On behalf of Roosevelt Island Associates
The Manhattan Park spokesperson adds:
The Holiday Lights in the park area are not included in the residents electric
bill.
CBS New York
reports on huge increases in Con Ed electricity bills for NYC residents.
... "I am a tenant who wishes to remain anonymous. My heating bill has tripled and so has the rest of the building's bills. Apparently management is saying they have to increase our rate. My family members' rent every month is only $139. How am I supposed to pay a $300 electricity bill? Especially when the heaters haven't even been used? It's cold everyday in my home because we don't use the heaters due to the electricity bill being unaffordable. Please help us. The elderly in [deleted] River Rd are so scared on their fixed incomes with rent at $120- $175 and heating bills at $400. Most people don't use the heat. They stop sealing our A.C and won't explain why. So, there's plenty of draft. I write to you at 2am at the age of 72 under 3 blankets and freezing. We need help"....
2-4 River Road is the affordable housing component of the Manhattan Park buildings complex with many elderly and low income residents.
Winter storm is coming tomorrow.
Snow will begin as early as 10 PM tonight. We are monitoring this storm and will have updates throughout the day, so keep your eyes on this channel as well as @NYCOEM and @NotifyNYC. https://t.co/s8jC1uGcX3
The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for #NYC from 3/6, 10:00PM to 3/8, 4:00AM. 6-12" of snow possible. Roads may be dangerous & strong winds may cause power outages. Use caution when walking, biking, or driving. For more info: https://t.co/zpmE9Tb9QWpic.twitter.com/eHdHmSBsoy
No one should be freezing in their own apartment in this City. Our Office is working to get in contact with the residents referenced in the story. Once that occurs we will do our best to get them the help they need through the City's resources.
According to a spokesperson for Manhattan Park management:
Management understands how fluctuating heating costs can impact monthly household budgets, especially for those living on a fixed income.
But electricity prices are set by Con Edison, the local utility provider for the property. Unfortunately, Con Edison increased their rates significantly during the last billing cycle due to the extremely cold weather at the beginning of the year, impacting all New Yorkers.
To help keep electric costs down, we purchase electricity from Con Edison at a bulk reduced rate that we pass through to the residents of 2-4 River Road, without any additional charges. Further, residents in the affordable units receive a flat monthly utility allowance set by HUD, which throughout the year often exceeds their energy consumption.
We also offer our residents a level payment plan option, which spreads electricity costs over the full year. But with the coldest months likely behind us we are hopeful that electricity rates will return to a more normal range on the next billing cycle, and remain more constant throughout the year.
Very high electricity charges are a long time issue for many Manhattan Park residents as seen from this 2013 post.
According to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC)
Cornell Tech has advised that Con Edison will continue work inside manholes located near the foot of the Queensboro (Ed Koch) Bridge along the West Road through the Cornell construction site to the manholes located near the entrance of Southpoint Park. The work, which was originally scheduled to end on Tuesday, March 17th, will continue around the clock until Friday, March 20th at 7:00 AM. There will be approximately three to four Con Edison trucks on site during this period. This work will not cause any road closures or traffic disruptions.
Additionally, on Wednesday, March 18th from 1 PM until midnight, Con Edison will be working inside a manhole at Southpoint Park to permanently repair damages caused by Hurricane Sandy.
During the March 2 Roosevelt Island Cornell Tech Construction & Community Task Force meeting, Tishman Construction's John DiCapua and Tim Coke, together with Cornell Tech's Director of Capital Planning Andrew Winters, provided an overview of the campus site
... that in order to widen the streets and to replace all the utilities underneath them, unfortunately, we do have to close the roads. We understand there needs to be access to the southern end of the Island for vehicles and we're going to serve the facilities down there. It's going to be a complicated process of figuring out when the right time is to close which piece of road and we're going to be working with RIOC on that over the next two months or so.
Here's the discussion on Roosevelt Island Cornell Tech site utility work.
Cornell Tech has advised that work performed by Con Edison near the foot of the Queensboro (Ed Koch) Bridge and south, scheduled to end Friday at 7 AM, will conclude Sunday, March 22nd, at 12 AM.
Con Edison will Begin work on Sunday, March 22nd at 7 AM inside their manholes at the corner of the North Loop and West Roads (near Sportspark, 250 Main Street) through the Cornell construction site to their manholes by the entrance to South Point Park. The work will continue around the clock and will conclude on Friday, March 27th at 12 AM. There may be up to 4 Con Edison trucks on the site during this time. Traffic will not be disrupted and no electrical service outages are anticipated to occur while this work is being performed.
Last November, some residents of Roosevelt Island's Roosevelt Landings building complex
complained about cold temperatures in their apartments. For example:
They only allow us to set heat to 72 degrees, no higher. That is not enough to heat the living room area, as it's an open room,
the heat still goes on when windows are opened! What are the contraptions they installed under the windows for if not to tell them no heat when the windows opened?
I have elderly parents who are always cold, l had to buy them 2 portable heaters because l don't want them getting sick. They don't want us to do that, then allow us to bring the heat up to at least 77 degrees, and. For the equipment to operate better,
the thermostats are giving false readings.we are going to freeze again this winter unless they raise the max temperature, which ... is 72 degrees, Many of us have large open living rooms, the insulation in our apartments is probably non existent, the new windows are horrible and those of us with staircases lose heat, too.
The thermostats work very well, are accurate and the vast majority of residents at Roosevelt Landings know how to use them. They maintain the required level of heat in each apartment and last heating season, the thermostats and comprehensive air sealing saved a lot of electricity and significantly reduced the amount of carbon emissions generated by the building. As always, if residents have issues with the equipment they should call or visit the main office and someone will visit their apartment as soon as possible to check it out.
Mr. Eisenberg invited me to take a tour of Roosevelt Landings and speak with Urban Greenfit's David Davenport who is managing Roosevelt Landings energy program. Mr. Davenport described how to stay warm in your Roosevelt Landings apartment.
Mr. Davenport adds:
Roosevelt Landings Heating Season Update
The heating system at Roosevelt Landings, has been active since October 1st.
Baseboard Heaters:
While City code requires buildings to maintain temperatures of 55F+ degrees at night and 68F+ degrees during the day, Roosevelt Landings maintains temperatures between 68-72F+ degrees through management of baseboard heaters and air sealing of resident apartments and corridors.
The heating management system at Roosevelt Landings is designed to keep the cold air out, maintain warm temperatures indoors, and prevent heated air from escaping. Residents who were used to turning their baseboard heaters on and off manually have commented that their thermostats and heaters do not work. The key to understanding that the system is working is not whether the baseboard heater is ON, but observing central indoor temperatures of 68-72F or more while outdoor temperatures are below 55-40F degrees and below.
Important Thermostat / Safety Facts:
The heaters come on automatically when the central room temperature is below 68F degrees.
Residents can adjust the temperatures up to 72F degrees by pressing the up button on the thermosets.
The baseboard heaters cannot be turned on manually.
The thermostats automatically setback to 68 degrees at 10pm and 6am.
When the thermostats setback, residents must manually raise the heat by pressing the up button to resent the temperature up to 72.
Refrain from using space heaters which will disable the baseboard heating system.
Use of ovens to augment heating is a safety hazard and will disable the baseboard heating system.
Use of ice or cold towels over the thermostat will damage and make the thermostat inoperable.
There are a number of actions that residents can take to help keep the cold air out, maintain warm temperatures indoors, and prevent heated air from escaping.
Prevent cold air draft infiltration by keeping apartment and hallway windows closed. Hallway windows have been fitted with locks to retain conditioned temperatures. If hallway windows and apartment windows are opened –cold air will come into the building and flow from apartments into the hallways, and from the hallways into apartments.
Make sure air-conditioner sleeves containing air conditioner units are sealed airtight around the edges. Also make sure that conditioner sleeves containing air conditioners have covers over vents to prevent cold air from coming in and baseboard heat from escaping. If you have an air conditioner sleeve with no air conditioner in it, make sure it is sealed with an air tight cover. If you notice drafts from your closed windows and air conditioners contact maintenance to schedule a winterization a service appointment to address these issues.
Don’t Block the Flow of Air: A baseboard heater heats as cold air is drawn into the heater and hot coils heat this air. As the air is heated, it rises to the top of the heater and then draws the cooler air from the room into the heater, and the cycle repeats. In order for your heater to function properly, it is important that nothing be placed in front of the heater to block the flow of air. In fact, you should place furniture at least 6 inches away from the heater. Furniture can block the baseboard heaters from heating the room and absorb heat.
Corridor Windows:
Hallway corridor windows will be locked during the heating season to prevent cold air from flowing through the corridors into resident apartments and to prevent heated air from escaping from hallway heaters and resident apartments. Ventilation to ASHRAE & building code standards are supplied through trickle ducts and mechanical ventilators in each hallway.
Please keep corridor windows closed and report open hallway windows to maintenance so that they can be secured. Vandalism of corridor window locks affects your building’s thermal heat loss and compromises the ability of neighbors to regulate the heat in their apartments.
Urban American's Josh Eisenberg explains the reason for water and electric shutdown today. Mr. Eisenberg reports:
The shut down is required in order to connect our new Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHP) to the electrical and hot water systems in the building.
Despite an inconvenient but unavoidable disruption in service Tuesday, we are proud to announce that Roosevelt Landings will be connecting its new Combined Heat and Power system that will generate 300 kW of electricity and 2.1 million BTUs/hr of domestic hot water.
When activated, our onsite power plant and heating system will be capable of generating 15% of the building's electricity on site and all of the hot water for more than 1000 apartments 30% more efficiently than before.
Only the 540 building where the system is located will be affected by the electrical shut down. We tried to plan the shut down at the least inconvenient time possible for the most number of residents. (While the rest of the complex will be affected by the brief hot water shut down, it should not be affected by the electrical shut down isolated in the 540 building.)
Unfortunately, disruption of service will affect everyone in some way and this cannot be helped. Management on the ground has identified those residents they believe will require special assistance, but those that have received the notice but have not yet spoken to the front office are encouraged to contact reception immediately.
On this Earth Day, 2014, I am proud to report that Urban American is making good on real commitments to energy efficiency on Roosevelt Island and that we will continue, as we have for many years, to make these improvements throughout our portfolios in New York City. We deeply appreciate our residents cooperation in this and in other aspects of our energy efficiency program at Roosevelt Landings. The enthusiasm and support of our residents in providing access for the installation of smart thermostats and for extensive air sealing has aided greatly in making this effort so far to be one of the largest and deepest energy efficiency retrofits of an apartment complex in New York City.
When do you anticipate the on site power plant and heating system to be activated?
He replied:
Optimistically, by the end of May. But there are still a few more steps in the process to firing up that CHP plant. The new boilers have been running for several months already.
Mr. Eisenberg explained Urban American's energy efficiency program during April 2013 Roosevelt Island real estate discussion on the Michael Stoler Report. Here's what Mr. Eisenberg had to say.
More details on Urban American's energy efficiency retrofits at Roosevelt Landings from previous post.
Understanding Your Con Ed Electricity Bill from NY Times
Have you experienced a large increase in Con Ed electricity bill for your Roosevelt Island apartment recently? Some Manhattan Park residents answer yes. Earlier today, Manhattan Park building management sent the following notice to their residents concerning increases in monthly electricity charges:
Notice to 10, 20, 30, 40 River Road Residents
Re: Electricity Charges
Ladies and Gentlemen:
As you are aware properties serviced by Consolidated Edison, including Manhattan Park, have experienced an unexpected and significant increase in monthly electric charges. However, there may be some misconceptions about the causes of these increases.
Management and ownership are concerned about the impact of these rates on our residents as well as our own electric charges for the Property’s common area. We purchase electricity directly from Con Ed at a bulk rate, which is cheaper than the rate that would be charged to individual residents by Con Ed on a direct meter. The Con Ed billing then is passed on to residents based on submetered individual unit usage. We are prohibited from making a profit on submetering by applicable legal requirements, but we are permitted to charge an administrative/service fee. It is important to point out that our submetering authorization policies and procedures have been approved by the New York State Public Service Commission (the “PSC”).
The Northeast has had an extremely cold winter, exacerbated by what is called a polar vortex. As a result, demand for heating has been very high. The cold weather, however, only tells part of the story of the increased electric bills. Con Ed recently significantly increased their billing by 54%+ in January, purportedly because of its increase in costs of purchasing electricity, that Con Ed passes on to its customers.
These increases are not unique to Manhattan Park, but rather apply broadly to Con Ed customers and would have been even higher if Manhattan Park did not purchase electricity at Con Ed’s bulk rate.
According to a March 7, 2014 article in the Albany Times Union, New York State regulators, including the PSC, have formally requested the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) to investigate the reasons for these increases. We intend to monitor the FERC complaint closely and will consider involvement to the extent it would be productive. For your information, a copy of this article is enclosed.
Finally, we would like to remind all residents to review the annual Home Energy Fair Practices Act (HEFPA) Notice that was distributed to the Tenants and the HEFPA Submeter Rider attached to all leases, which provide for a billing dispute resolution process that was required by and approved by the PSC, and also calls for a level billing option if requested by a resident or a deferred payment agreement based on a means/needs test on the terms provided therein.
High electric bills are of great concern to our residents, as well as to us. We are taking all necessary steps within our power to support the efforts to reduce electric costs. We will share useful information about these efforts with our residents.
Sincerely,
Grenadier Realty Corp. as agent for
Roosevelt Island Associates
A group of about of about 20 Manhattan Park 2-4 River Road residents recently met with with a representative of NY State Senator Jose Serrano to express their concerns about the recent high electricity bills and fears that they would be evicted from their apartment for not being able to afford the increases. The Serrano representative said that his office would look into the matter.
Image Of Con Ed Workers Restoring Power To Roosevelt Island
An update to today's Roosevelt Island power outage at Westview, Manhattan Park, Octagon, Motorgate Garage and Gristedes. Residents have reported power returning to their buildings but Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) President Charlene Indelicato told me that those who have had power restored may still experience periodic outages and that full restoration of electricity to Roosevelt Island may not happen until Sunday. Here's the latest advisory from RIOC received at 5:54 PM
Please be advised Con Edison is responding to a power outage that has affected Westview, and every building north of this location. Only use necessary electricity to avoid overloading the system and to prevent additional power loss to the island. Please also keep flushing toilets to a minimum. Backup generators have arrived and will provide supplemental power until normal service is restored. There is also a street light outage on the west side from 501 Main street to 645 Main street. Emergency Generator Light Towers will be erected in the area until power to the street lights is fully restored.
Con Ed has set up a Customer Information Command Unit located at the Plaza of 591 Main street (outside of the RIOC offices). In case of an emergency, please call Public Safety at 212- 832-4545 or dial 911.
Sincerely,
Roosevelt Island Operating Corp Advisories Group
OEM, FDNY And RIOC Personnel Conferring On Roosevelt Island Power Outage
A Con Ed Press Spokesperson explained the cause of today's power outage. Apparently, last night 3 Con Ed Feeder Cables to Roosevelt Island were out of service for maintenance. This morning there was a fire on the Queensboro Bridge knocking out 2 additional Roosevelt Island feeder cables which, when combined with the 3 feeder cables out for maintenance, caused the loss of power for the northern portion of Roosevelt Island. The one remaining feeder cable was able to provide power south of Westview.
UPDATE 9:10 PM - According to Con Ed, the electricity feeder cables for Manhattan Park and Octagon have been repaired so normal electricity service is now resumed. Westview and some Main Street lights are on a generator. The feeder cables serving Westview and the Main Street lights will be repaired within the next 36 hours.
UPDATE 5/25 3 PM - According to Con Ed, the electricity feeder cables for Westview, some Main Street Lights as well as Island House and Coler Goldwater Hospital are still being repaired. These buildings are currently being powered by backup generators. As of now it is not known how soon the feeder cables for these buildings will be repaired. As soon as they are fixed, the backup generators will be turned off resulting in loss of power in these buildings for approximately 45 minutes and then power will be restored from the repaired feeder cables.
UPDATE 5/26 - The NYC Office of Emergency Management tweets:
Roosevelt Island residents can resume normal electricity usage following a repair of the electrical network.
— NYC OEM - Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) May 26, 2013
Con Ed responding to an outage on Roosevelt Island (MN).To report a loss of electric service, call 1-800-75-CONED
— NYC OEM - Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) May 24, 2013
A reader reports:
My husband called Con Ed. Power issue affects 625, Octagon and Manhattan Park. There is a problem with the feeder that provides power to those buildings on the island. According to Con Edison, this issue should be resolved by 11 am.
From another resident:
Note buildings like 40 river are required to have back up lighting in stair wells in case electricity is lost. 40 river does not have such back up lights installed. Stairwells pitch black. They should bring the building up to fire code standards.
UPDATE 9:15 AM:
Con Edison asks Roosevelt Island (MN)customers to reduce the use of electrical appliances and A/C units. To contact Con Ed at 1-800-75-CONED
— NYC OEM - Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) May 24, 2013
Resident Lynn Strong-Shinozaki reports:
There is some belief that the Blackout is related to the fire on the Koch bridge and/or related to flooding with the power station or both. Students are at ps/is 217 are being given the day off as well as some of the Childschool students are being sent home. We have asked that they consider using sports park as a place for people to go if the do not resolve this quickly. They are in the process of evaluating the 2/4 River Road for the needs of the seniors and disabled. Do we know who might need to be checked in the other buildings? We hope they can set up temp. charging places... the power is also out at the RIOC office.
Robert K adds:
The south tram is also out of service right now; the expected crowds are forming. (Unsure if this is separate from the power outage or in response to con Ed conservation request)
Update 10:10 - According to Roosevelt Island Operating Corp President Charlene Indelicato, four out of five Con Ed feeder cables serving Roosevelt Island are out. Ms Indelicato urges residents to limit non essential electricity uses so that the fifth feeder cable does not go out as well.
Update 11:35 AM - After briefing by OEM, Con Ed and other emergency personnel, Ms Indelicato reports no change in power outage status but urges residents Not To Flush Toilets until power restored. The next update from RIOC will be at 3 pm
Con Edison is asking customers on Roosevelt Island to conserve electricity due to problems on electrical equipment serving this area.
The company implemented voltage reduction as a precaution to protect equipment and maintain service as company crews work to repair the problem.
Con Edison is asking customers on Roosevelt Island not to use appliances such as washers, dryers, and other energy-intensive equipment and to turn off lights and televisions when not needed until the equipment problems are resolved.
Customers can report outages and check service restoration status at www.coned.com/reportoutage or by calling 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633). When reporting an outage, customers should have their Con Edison account number available, if possible, and report whether their neighbors also have lost power. Customers who report outages will be called by Con Edison with their estimated restoration times as they become available.
The equipment problems on Roosevelt Island have no effect on the rest of the Con Edison system. Con Edison will provide updates to affected customers both directly and through the media as the situation warrants. The company is in constant communication with the New York City Office of Emergency Management.
Con Ed outage map states that there are 4 Roosevelt Island outages affecting 26 customers with an estimated resumption of service at 5 PM. No idea how they came up with only 26 customers affected when there is no power in the Octagon, Manhattan Park and Westview buildings with more than 2 thousand total apartments.
Roosevelt Island's PS/IS 217 Principal Mandana Beckman reported:
There continues to be no power at school. This morning the students were relocated to Good Shepard Church. We plan to remain there for the day but will walk back to the school for dismissal. We will dismiss students from the school at 2:50pm unless parents decide to pick up their children earlier. All of our staff made it to work and the few students that remain are busy.
Rabbi Zalman Duchman adds:
Chabad Lubavitch of Roosevelt Island is going to host a special Shabbat dinner tonight for all those effected by the blackout.
Contact Rabbi Zalman and Nechama Duchman via email Nechama@RIJewish.org or call 212.652.5660 for info and RSVP
Tonight, 7:30 pm at 425 Main St.
Please visit elderly and homebound neighbors to make sure they are okay.
UPDATE 1:25 - Bright Horizons Pre-School at the Octagon sent out this message to parents:
Dear Families,
While Bright Horizons does have power the building does not. The center is connected to the water supply pumps which are not operational. As the day goes on the supply of water is being reduced to the classrooms. The estimated time for power to be returned to the building is late afternoon / early evening. As per licensing we can not operate the center without running water. We are asking families to pick up no later then 3:00pm. We do apologize for the inconvenience. For the health and safety of the children and faculty we can not remain open without water.
.@conedison: Customer Outreach Vans at 591 Main Street in Plaza at Roosevelt Island. Will assist answering questions & addressing concerns.
— NYC OEM (@nycoem) May 24, 2013
UPDATE 3:10 PM - Receiving reports from Octagon residents that power is back in their building. One resident adds that according to Octagon building management:
We were asked by Con Ed to try to use minimal power as only one "grid" is up at the moment. If it gets overloaded we might loose power again. We will try to minimize usage in other areas of the building.
Added to this list of Roosevelt Island green energy projects are the measures currently being undertaken at the Roosevelt Landings/Eastwood buildings (over 1 thousand apartments)
Image of Roosevelt Landings formerly Eastwood
by owner Urban American to install comprehensive energy saving systems and a cogeneraton power plant.
I recently spoke with Mr. Eisenberg and David Davenport of Urban Greenfit, partners on the Roosevelt Landings energy retrofit project, about conservation and efficiency improvements being made to individual apartments, common areas and building exteriors as well as the replacement of old boilers with a cogeneration plant and high efficiency boilers. We took a tour of the building including mechanical room as the old boilers were in the process of being removed.
Below is an Urban American newsletter delivered to residents last week describing in great detail the Roosevelt Landings energy retrofit currently being undertaken.
In June 2011, Urban American substantially completed over $7 million in energy‐efficiency retrofits at Roosevelt Landings through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Multifamily Performance Program (MPP). This work involved a “conventional energy retrofit” focused on certain system upgrades, including:
Installation of submeters in resident apartments
Upgrades of common area lighting
Replacement of external lighting
Replacement of windows
Installation of occupancy sensors
Replacement of older refrigerators
Installation of timers on bathroom exhaust fans
Air sealing of air conditioner sleeves
CFL lighting distribution
Installation of low‐flow shower heads/aerators
With the exception of refrigerator replacements (which are still underway), all of these projects have been completed.
During this upgrade process, engineers working with Urban American determined that there were still significant opportunities to achieve even greater energy savings through a “deep energy retrofit” at the property, including a combination of sustainable‐energy and energy‐efficiency measures. Deep energy retrofits achieve much greater energy savings than conventional retrofits by taking a whole‐building approach, addressing many systems at once.
The deep energy retrofit now underway at Roosevelt Landings includes $7 million in new investments and is currently the largest energy retrofit of a multifamily building in New York City. The project involves two scopes of work:
Energy‐Efficiency Measures: A combination of advanced energy‐efficiency retrofits composed of: a) air sealing of common spaces and resident apartments, b) smart grid controlled programmable thermostats and window sensors in all resident apartments, and c) foam insulation applied to exterior exposed concrete slabs under resident apartments.
Sustainable‐Energy Measures: A cogeneration plant paired with new high‐efficiency boilers that will provide electricity, thermal heat, and domestic hot water (DHW) to the building.
To manage these projects, Urban American has partnered with Urban Greenfit, LLC (UGF), a new company dedicated to developing energy‐efficiency projects. The current project began in January 2013 and will be completed later this summer.
The following summarizes the work underway at Roosevelt Landings, explains how the work will impact the building and resident quality of life, and prepares residents for the upgrades and improvements that require access to resident apartments.
UGF has engaged two companies, H20 Degree and Air Barrier Solutions, to visit resident apartments to perform the necessary upgrades.
Electric Heat Control: The first group of contractors from H20 Degree will be entering resident apartments to do two things: replace older baseboard heaters with new heaters and install programmable thermostats to control the heaters.
Heater Replacement: Older model 2‐6 foot baseboard heaters will be replaced with new heaters of the same size. Older model 6‐12 foot baseboard heaters will be replaced with new 6‐foot baseboard heaters. In most cases, the decrease in size is due largely to the elimination of a utility plug or button controls on the heater. Irrespective of the size, the new heaters will provide better performance in every apartment due to faster heating coil materials and newer technology.
Installation of Programmable Thermostats: Dials and buttons on the old baseboard heaters are being replaced with wall‐mounted programmable thermostats. The new thermostats will send a wireless signal to a paired “controller” on each baseboard heater. Residents will be able to select a target temperature, and the thermostat will power the heater until the room reaches that desired comfort level.
The number of thermostats installed in each apartment is determined by the number of rooms in the apartments:
Benefits of the new thermostats:
Residents can set the temperature on thermostat without touching heater
Allow residents to see and set the temperature in zone of their apartment
Displays ambient (room temperature) and set point (desired temperature)
Allows time of day and day of week programming from the thermostat
Allows 2 way communication between the thermostat and central energy control system in building
Room temperature, set points, and heater operation data will be collected and stored wirelessly to monitor and improve overall system performance
Allows building management to monitor and adjust set points per tenant request, identify apartments with broken heaters, and characterize usage patterns
Apartment Air Sealing: A second group of contractors from Air Barrier Solutions will tighten the “building envelope” by airsealing resident apartments to eliminate cold air infiltration and drafts during the heating season. Air Barrier Solutions will perform six scopes of work in each apartment:
Plug holes behind heaters and along exterior walls that allow drafts in the building
Caulk windows where leaks are evident
Install draft blocking gaskets in exterior wall electrical outlets
Caulk beneath the sill of the outside windows
Seal holes around pipes under sinks that allow drafts (and pests) in apartments
Clean and retrofit the ventilation register covers and orifices in resident kitchens and bathrooms; the metal interiors of the ventilation ducts will be brushed and wiped clean, and a new orifice plate will be installed to regulate and distribute ventilation airflow more evenly among apartments
Common Area Airsealing: In addition to the work done in resident apartments, Air Barrier Solutions is airsealing common areas, including elevator machine rooms, stairwells, and AVAC rooms. Locks will be installed on hallway corridor windows for use during the heating season. The windows will remain open during the rest of the year. Thru‐wall corridor air supply fans with filters will be installed in each corridor and operate when the windows are locked to maintain NYC Building Code and ASHRAE code guidelines. These measures will eliminate the “wind tunnel effect” that some residents have experienced when walking the halls during the cold months and keep cold air out of the hallways and from entering resident apartments.
Floor Slab Insulation: Apartments that protrude over Main Street and breezeways will have high‐density spray foam installed directly below concrete floor slabs and at wall penetrations. This will eliminate the key source of cold floors in these apartments and block cold air from leaking into the building.
New Boilers and Onsite Power Generation: Two other major improvements to building 540 are underway: the installation of new boilers and sustainable‐energy technologies.
Boiler Upgrade: UGF is currently replacing Roosevelt Landings’ 4 original and outdated boilers that are now operating at 65% efficiency with 5 new 95% efficient boilers.
Sustainable Energy: UGF will install 3 x 100 kW combined heat and power (CHP) modules that together have the capacity to generate 300 kW of electricity and 2.1 million BTUs/hr of DHW. Generally speaking, the CHP system will create 15% of building electricity onsite as well as preheat the boilers by 40%
What Residents Should Expect:
The retrofits in resident apartments started in building 510 and will progress to building 580 working one or two floors at a time. Residents will be notified in advance and be required to make their apartments accessible on the mornings or afternoons when the workers are scheduled to be on your floor. The entire job (including heater replacement, thermostat installation, and air sealing) will take between 90 minutes to 3 hours depending on apartment size. Although we started doing partial installs in the first buildings, the crews are now completing all of their work when they visit an apartment.
Notification will go out a week before the workers come to your floor, and building staff will knock on resident doors and leave a reminder the night before the workers come. We ask that you move any furniture away from your exterior walls and remove all items from under your sinks. If you need assistance, building staff will be available to help you move items to and from the work area the day the work is done. When the work is complete, building staff will be available to sheetrock, patch, and repair areas near the heaters, if necessary.
Once work has been completed in your building, training sessions will be provided to explain how the thermostats work. And when work has been completed in all buildings, resident education seminars on energy efficiency will be provided to help educate residents on how to be more energy efficient within their apartments.
Thus far, the work has been conducted professionally and generally on schedule. In light of the size and scale of these projects, however, we ask for your patience on a few minor issues that have arisen.
We ask for your patience with respect to scheduling. Some apartments simply require more work than others or have a lot of furniture to be moved. This sometimes causes unpredictable delays and gaps between the work crews.
We ask your patience with the new thermostats. In order for the thermostats to work properly, they must be installed, programmed, and connected to a computer network to be fully operational. In some cases there have been lags of up to 2 days between the time the thermostats have been installed and the time they begin controlling the heaters.
When new baseboard heaters are first used, they sometimes burn off sediment or other materials causing smoke and/or an electrical smell. This may be annoying, but it is normal.
We appreciate your cooperation and patience as we proceed with the work in the months ahead, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused by the work. Our goal is to improve resident comfort and make the building more energy efficient.
Submetering
As noted above, submetering is an important part of these projects.
At present, the New York State Public Service Commission’s (PSC) “Order Reinstating Submetering Approval at North Town Roosevelt with Conditions” (the NTR Submetering Order) allows for the submetering of all of the electricity utilized by the resident(s) in each apartment. This includes both plug load electricity (i.e., refrigerator, television[s], computer[s], lights, etc.) and heat load electricity (i.e., what is used for the electric resistance baseboard heaters).
As you may recall, during the comment period before the NTR Submetering Order was issued, some residents raised the issue of paying for electricity used for the baseboard heaters. In response, Urban American tasked its technical consultants with determining whether plug load electricity could be disaggregated from heat load electricity. In other words, upon implementing submetering at Roosevelt Landings, residents would only pay for plug load electricity, not heat load electricity. Ultimately, Urban American’s consultants were successful in developing a solution by which plug load electricity could be separated from the electricity used for the baseboard heaters, thereby ensuring that residents would only be billed for their plug load electricity usage.
In implementing submetering at Roosevelt Landings as part of the above projects, Urban American intends to proceed with this new solution of separating plug load electricity from heat load electricity. Prior to doing so, since this approach differs from what the PSC previously approved, Urban American recently filed a petition for clarification of the NTR Submetering Order with the PSC (see http://documents.dps.ny.gov/public/Common/ViewDoc.aspx?DocRefId={85FED753‐D1C4‐44C1‐ A16F‐62FA8BBA514D}).
In this petition for clarification, Urban American recommitted to the following conditions at Roosevelt Landings:
Complete all NYSERDA Energy Reduction Plan Measures
Provide Energy Conservation Education For Residents
Provide Energy Star Rated Models to All Residents with Refrigerators Manufactured Before 2001
Provide Utility Allowances for All Residents
Installing at Least One Programmable Thermostat in the Primary Living Area of Each Apartment
Further, Urban American will provide residents notice of when submetering will begin no less than two months prior to the commencement of submetering. During this notice period, and for longer if practically possible, Urban American will provide residents with “shadow bills,” which measure the electricity use for each apartment and calculate a bill reflecting such usage. These shadow bills will be provided for informational purposes to the residents, but actual submetering will not be occurring and the residents will have no responsibility to pay the amount shown on these shadow bills.
The combination of this revised submetering plan and the above investments in energy efficiency and sustainable energy at Roosevelt Landings will result in clear benefits to residents, including: a) not being billed under submetering for electric heat usage, b) receiving air‐sealed apartments, providing greater comfort while requiring less heat, and c) receiving at least one networked programmable thermostat to maintain optimal levels of zoned comfort.
On May 1, 2013, the PSC published notice of Urban American’s petition for clarification in the State Register. This starts a 45‐day public comment period that ends on June 14, 2013. Comments on the petition may be submitted Jeffrey C. Cohen, Acting Secretary, Public Service Commission, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223‐1350, (518) 408‐1978, email: secretary@dps.ny.gov. Please reference Case Number 08‐E‐0838 in any comments.
Thank you for your attention as we work to complete these energy‐efficiency and sustainable‐energy projects at Roosevelt Landings. If you have any questions about this update, please contact us at: reduceenergy@urbanamerican.net
The inefficient electricity infrastructure and submetering proposal at Roosevelt Landings has been a long time contentious issue between Urban American, building residents and local elected officials. Here's more background on the issue from previous posts.
The map represents the total annual building energy consumption at the block level (zoom levels 11-15) and at the taxlot level (zoom levels 16-18) for New York City, and is expressed in kilowatt hours (k Wh) per square meter of land area. The data comes from a mathematical model based on statistics, not private information from utilities, to estimate the annual energy consumption values of buildings throughout the five boroughs. To see the break down of the type of energy being used, for which purpose and in what quantity, hover over or click on a block or taxlot.
Image Of Powerless Octagon Building During Hurricane Sandy From Olivia Rios
As previously reported, Hurricane Sandy knocked out power at Roosevelt Island's Octagon Building on Monday October 29. Here's a time lapse video showing when the Octagon lights went out at approximately 8 PM.
You Tube Video of Roosevelt Island Hurricane Sandy Time Lapse
Last night, Octagon Building management sent the following message to residents explaining the power outage chronology and why the Octagon state-of-the-art Fuel Cell
was not able to maintain electricity for the entire building. According to Octagon building management:
Thank you all for your patience during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. This letter is meant to describe the chronology of the power outage specific to the Octagon and the fuel cell’s emergency operation.
First let me describe the normal operation of the fuel cell. The fuel cell supplies the building with 400 KW of electricity and heat around the clock. During peak times this is about enough to supply half of the building with the shortfall picked up by the solar panels and the Con Edison grid. During off-peak times, the fuel cell can supply most of the building without supplemental grid power. The building is at all times connected to the grid for supplemental power so that during normal operations there is never a power shortfall. At times the fuel cell does go out of service, like any piece of mechanical equipment, and requires maintenance. It is estimated that the fuel cell is up and running 98% of the year. When the fuel cell is out of service, the Con Edison grid picks up the full building load.
In the event of a Con Edison grid outage, the fuel cell switches to grid independent mode. This means it is still operational when the grid is down for specific life safety loads as is the emergency diesel generator, but it cannot pick up the entire building load.
During Hurricane Sandy, the Con Edison power went out at the Octagon on Monday night due to its connection to Coler Hospital’s electrical network, which was flooded. The fuel cell switched to grid-independent mode and the emergency generator came on to pick up life-safety loads.
Knowing the fuel cell had the capacity to carry more of the building’s loads, the Octagon management team arranged for the project engineer, fuel cell manufacturer, and electrician to transfer specific loads over to the fuel cell so that the building could have hot and cold water. This work was completed on Wednesday.
On Wednesday evening, Con Edison arrived to assess the power outage at Coler Hospital. It was determined that the flooding at Coler caused the power outage.Con Edison disconnected the Octagon from the Coler network so that the power at the Octagon could be restored independent of the Hospital. Thursday morning, Con Edison informed the Octagon management that an independent electrical testing agency would have to test all of the building’s switchgear, transformers, and vaults for damage prior to re-energizing. The Octagon management was able to have an agency conduct these tests Thursday afternoon with a certificate in Con Edison’s hands Thursday evening.
On Friday, the Octagon Management worked with Con Edison all day to schedule a crew to turn the power back on at the building. Further, we had our electrician onsite to ensure no problems on the building’s end once power was restored. On Friday Con Edison determined that they were sending power to the Octagon’s transformers but the building was not receiving the power, meaning there was a problem with the Con Edison transformers that would require a specific crew with our electrician’s assistance to remediate the damage.
Unfortunately, Con Edison was not able to get to the building until Saturday morning to make the repairs and restore power. Our electricians came back Saturday morning and assisted in the repair and restoration of power early Saturday afternoon. It was ultimately determined that Con Edison had faulty components in their network protectors that had to be replaced to restore the power.
We understand this was a very difficult week for all of the Octagon residents and appreciate your patience with our management team as we made every effort to make living at the building more bearable during the outage.
One lesson learned from the Hurricane Sandy experience is that perhaps all of Roosevelt Island should not be in the Category B evacuation zone but that portions of Roosevelt island, including the area around the Octagon and Coler Hospital should be Category A.
Roosevelt Island is a mixed income, racially diverse waterfront community situated in the East River of New York City between Manhattan and Queens and is jurisdictionally part of Manhattan. The Roosevelt Island Tramway, which connects Roosevelt Island to the rest of Manhattan, has become the iconic symbol of Roosevelt Island to its residents.
The Purpose of this Blog is to provide accurate and timely information about Roosevelt Island as well as a forum for residents to express opinions and engage in a dialogue to improve our community.
