PSE&G hurricane hearing attracts JCP&L customers

More than 800,000 customers of Public Service & Gas (PSE&G), in total, lost electricity during Hurricane Irene, reports NJ Spotlight. This number is a just a little more than the other three utilities that serve New Jersey.

The state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) held a public meeting to discuss the outages, but only two people showed up, both with criticisms to Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L). PSE&G did not hear anything about the loss of electricity.

Speaking on why JCP&L seems to get more attention from angry customers, BPU President Lee Solomon said, “Clearly, most of the flooding and long-term storm damage occurred in JCP&L’s territory. It also would seem some of the issues, particularly with communication, occurred most frequently with JCP&L.”

Dave Burd, coordinator of the Lambertville Office of Emergency Management, suggested that utilities be required to give municipalities daily updates of power outages within their communities and to implement a remote system for restoring power to areas where it has shut off electricity because of expected flooding.