Charlottesville, Virginia (Platts)--7Dec2012/400 pm EST/2100 GMT

Consolidated Edison has committed $250 million in short-term spending to help harden its New York City system against storms, as part of an initiative announced Thursday by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The improvements are part of a larger plan being prepared by Bloomberg's office to ready the city for future storms, following the devastation brought by Hurricane Sandy in October.

Con Edison, which serves New York City and Westchester County, New York, said the money will come from the $2 billion the utility spends annually on its electric, gas and steam systems. It has earmarked $250 million for measures to protect critical equipment from future flood damage.

The actions the utility plans to take include raising electrical relay houses in substations, and installing stronger barriers and flood pumps. Con Edison also will examine the idea of putting major overhead power lines underground.

"For major developments in vulnerable areas, we now require a climate risk assessment," Bloomberg said.

A substantial proportion of the city's critical electrical infrastructure is in the 100-year flood plain, he said. So the city will assess "what it takes to make every essential network that supports our city capable of withstanding a Category 2 hurricane, or a record-breaking heat wave, or other natural disaster," he said.

The city also plans to work with Governor Andrew Cuomo to accelerate investments in distributed energy, micro-grids, energy storage, and smart grid technologies, and encourage more use of cogeneration by large buildings and hospitals, Bloomberg said.

Damage from Sandy to coastal New York utilities was about $1.4 billion. Water levels rose 14 feet during the storm, an event that the Federal Emergency Management Agency said stood less than a 1% chance of ever happening, according to Bloomberg.

--Lisa Wood, newsdesk@platts.com --Edited by Jeff Barber, jeff_barber@platts.com