Monday, March 4, 2013
A glitch in the Woodbridge substation caused a power failure Monday afternoon.
Residents and businesses experienced a power outage early this afternoon, according to PSEG. The outage affected parts of Woodbridge Proper and Edison Township. "There was a malfunction with the breakers at the Woodbridge substation," said Kristine Snodgrass. The substation in question is located on Route 1 in Woodbridge Proper; the Sewaren substation, which is usually the one that has electrical issues and was out of commission from flooding after Hurricane Sandy, was not affected. Homeowners in the Martin Terrace section of the township, located off Rahway Avenue, complained about their lights going dark on Woodbridge Patch's Facebook page around 1 pm. There were also reports the power outage affected residents in the Avenel section of …
Monday, February 25, 2013
Price to restore essential services may top $1 billion, state agency weighs costs appropriate to pass on to customers.
The state is expected to initiate a proceeding to decide how utilities in New Jersey recover the enormous costs imposed by restoring essential services like electricity, gas, and water in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The New Jersey Board of Utilities yesterday said it sought to establish an appropriate cost-recovery mechanism for expenses incurred by the utilities in responding to the superstorm. How it would work is uncertain, but the costs imposed by the storms are huge. Public Service & Electric Gas executives said they could run between $250 million and $300 million. Other utilities spent more than the state’s largest electric utility. Jersey Central Power & Light, the state’s second-biggest electric company with 1 million customers, …
Friday, December 7, 2012
If your electric service was out for weeks, you can vent at a series of statewide BPU hearings
Much of New Jersey was spared the Hurricane Sandy storm surge that destroyed so much of the shore areas. But for those who missed that part of the hurricane, the next worst thing that happened was the loss of electric power. In some parts of the state, the power outages lasted for as long as two weeks. Now the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) wants to know what consumers think about how their local electric utilities handled the hurricane. The BPU is seeking public input in a series of public forums throughout the state. Two hearings involving the performance of Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) are scheduled. The first takes place on Monday, December 10 from 4 pm to 7 pm at the William Annin School in Basking Ridge, and the …
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
It felt like Hurricane Sandy all over again Tuesday, even if just for a few short hours.
It's been a month since Hurricane Sandy plunged much of the central New Jersey area in darkness. In some parts of Woodbridge and the surrounding area Tuesday, it felt like Hurricane Sandy all over again. That's because there was an equipment failure at the PSE&G Rahway substation, said company spokesman Annette L. Hicks. "Crews are on their way to assess the situation," Hicks said in an email. There was no early indication Tuesday night when the power would be turned back on for those who lost service. Patricia Abrantes of Avenel said that the electricity went out in her home around 2 pm. The power was back on about 4 pm. Some areas of Woodbridge Proper also lost electrical service Tuesday morning for short spurts of time. But just when …
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
In these post-Hurricane Sandy days, it pays to keep your guard up when someone is knocking on your door.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Wednesday, November 14, 2012
When people are vulnerable, predators are known to take advantage, so, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and the nor’easter that recently battered New Jersey, the New Jersey Utilities Association (NJUA) warns customers to be on guard against individuals that falsely claim to be utility company representatives. Local utility companies, such as Middlesex Water Company, PSE&G, and Verizon, belong to the association. “The safety of our employees and customers is always job one for NJUA member utility companies. While so many are reaching out to assist those whose lives have been disrupted by the recent storms, there are also the few who will take advantage of people at their time of need. We want to remind our customers to take extra …
Monday, November 12, 2012
Check here for the latest update about this afternoon's power outage.
UPDATE: PSEG says the power has been restored from this afternoon's black out when the substation, located in the Sewaren section of Woodbridge, crashed and killed the electricity for people in the area. The PSEG statement is as follows: "...[A]t about 2:40 p.m. today, PSE&G’s Sewaren switching station went out of service. Personnel were immediately on site. The outage affected about 45,000 customers in portions of: Perth Amboy, Rahway, Woodbridge, Carteret, Fanwood, Westfield, Mountainside, Edison, Plainfield and Scotch Plains. The Sewaren station was one of a number of switching and substations that experienced significant flooding as a result of Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 29. All customers were restored by about 4:15 p.m…
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Whatever it is, if you drive on Routes 1 & 9 north, you can't miss it.
NORTH JERSEY -- Residents are wondering who built an enormous tent city, complete with guards, fencing, and gates, at an old General Motors plant site. Anyone who travelled north on Routes 1 and 9 from Woodbridge to Linden remembers Linden Airport, and the GM plant right across the narrow lanes of the highway. That plant was torn down in 2008 to make way for a building renaissance that so far hasn't happened. But in the past few days what has arisen aren't structures of steel and concrete, but an encampment comprised of wooden poles and white tent bunting. In the tent city, there are water trucks, vehicles for taking showers, and what looks like a ton of raw materials for more building. Trying to find out what it's for, though, is another …
Friday, November 9, 2012
They're almost there, said the PSEG president in what will be the last of the hurricane media conferences.
It's day 12 since Hurricane Sandy hit, and PSEG has hit a milestone. The company says it has restored electricity to 98 percent of their customers in their service area, and they're hoping to make it 100 percent by Saturday. Ralph LaRossa, president and chief operating officer of the company, said in a media update conference call -- the last he hopes he'll be having to discuss Hurricane Sandy and the nor'easter that tore through the area Wednesday -- that even with service restoration, the work isn't over yet. He gave a big thanks to the 4,500 linemen who poured into New Jersey from all over the country to supplement PSEG's own crews. He spoke to one lineman yesterday, who said he had been working 16 hours a day since even before the …
In the latest update from the electric utility, 97 percent who lost power during Sandy have the lights back on.
The clouds are lifting in PSEG's service area. Ninety-seven percent of the utility's 1.7 million customers affected by Hurricane Sandy last week have had their power restored, the company said in their latest update. That leaves 45,000 still without power from the hurricane. More good news from Wednesday's nor'easter is that 20,000 customers who lost power had it restored by 8 pm Thursday night. This included customers affected by an equipment failure in the substation located in the Sewaren section of Woodbridge. Affected customers who got their lights back on last night were located in portions of Woodbridge Proper, Port Reading, Carteret, Linden, Metuchen, Union, Elizabeth, Kenilworth, Perth Amboy, Roselle, Roselle Park, Westfield, …
Thursday, November 8, 2012
The two central New Jersey counties had the highest impact from Wednesday's storm that brought heavy, wet snow and downed power lines to the area.
Middlesex and Mercer Counties took the brunt of Nor'easter Athena's heavy, sodden snow Wednesday, said Ralph LaRossa, president and chief operating officer of PSE&G in a morning conference call. LaRossa said he had had a meeting with mayors from the area in East Brunswick yesterday when a 69,000 volt line in the substation there blew but was quickly repaired. As of Thursday morning, 40,000 PSE&G customers were impacted by up to six inches of snow from the nor'easter, while 70,000 customers were still suffering from the lack of electricity from Hurricane Sandy last week. "We've been making fantastic progress," LaRossa said, pointing out that many of the linemen, including ones from states that have never seen snow in Athena quantities, …
Maggie Otterbine Klorman
8:35 am on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Maybe we should all get together and file a class action lawsuit to recover what we lost in the 2 weeks we had no power. more ›