By Matt Freeze —<\/p>\n
BINGHAMTON \u2014 NYSEG announced Tuesday that it will be installing thousands more animal guards across its service area to increase energy reliability after initial success with the program since 2020.<\/p>\n
NYSEG officials said the $13.8 million investment for over 18,000 animal guards will help reduce outages by preventing wildlife from gaining access to energized electrical equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeeping the power on for customers is one of our top priorities,\u201d said Josh Shail, director of programs and logistics for NYSEG and RG&E. \u201cUnfortunately, wild animals are one of the leading causes of power outages in the state. Animal guards are a cost-effective way to not only strengthen our grid but also protect the lives of critters simply following their natural tendency.\u201d<\/p>\n
NYSEG officials said while infrastructure may provide a temporary safe haven for wildlife, animal contacts caused more than 1,400 outages, impacting roughly 82,000 customers in 2020.<\/p>\n
These outages represented 8.6% of all NYSEG outages.<\/p>\n
Since launching the animal guard program five years ago, outages caused by animals have decreased by approximately 50 percent, NYSEG officials said.<\/p>\n
Last year, NYSEG attributed 3.87% of all its outages to animal contact issues.<\/p>\n
(Matt Freeze is a senior writer at The Morning Times)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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