Utility: NYC blackout 10 times larger than thought

``I'm here and I go home and it's the same thing," said Marie Koutsoumbaris, a receptionist at a funeral home. ``No lights, no air."

Con Edison originally said the blackout affected only 2,500 customers, but provided a new estimate yesterday of 25,000, saying the initial figure was based only on the number of customers who called to complain. The number increased to 26,000 customers around midnight. The utility said it had not yet determined the cause of the increase.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the actual number of people without power is about 100,000; the term ``customer" can refer to more than one household or an entire apartment building.

Bloomberg said he was annoyed by the new estimate because ``we might have thrown more resources into the area."

``The sad thing is, this shouldn't have happened," Bloomberg said. ``We don't know why, but the most important thing [is to] make sure nobody dies or gets hurt, and then help Con Ed to get it back up."

Others had harsher words for Con Edison.

``They're either pathetic incompetents or pathetic liars," said Councilman Peter F. Vallone Jr.

Assemblyman Michael N. Gianaris of Astoria called for a ``criminal investigation of Con Edison on the grounds of reckless endangerment." Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said his office would consider the request.

Chris Olert, a Con Edison spokesman, said the company will ``cooperate with everyone's inquiries."

``We're trying to get them up as quickly as possible," said Alfonso Quiroz, a Con Edison spokesman. ``We're working 24/7, and we're hoping that the bulk of the customers that are out will be back on Sunday."

Con Edison said its revised number followed a block-by-block cable inspection in northwest Queens on Thursday night. That led to the higher number -- and escalated the rhetoric against Con Edison, the main power company in New York City and Westchester County.

``They have no way of measuring whether or not there's power to your house" until workers make it to that location, Bloomberg said. ``They cannot tell from their computers."