NEWARK, N.J., Oct. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Public Service
Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) today reported that it is
making steady progress restoring power to the more than 500,000
customers affected by Saturday's wet, heavy snow that brought down
numerous trees and power lines.
At this time, the state's largest electric and gas utility has
restored power to about 70 percent of the customers affected, and
will meet the state's expectations of having at least 95 percent of
customers restored by Thursday. PSE&G serves 2.2 million
electric customers.
"As Governor Christie noted earlier today, this storm caused
more significant damage to our electric infrastructure than
Hurricane Irene," said Ralph
LaRossa, PSE&G president and COO. "I assured him that we
were using every available resource to make repairs and restore
electricity as quickly and safely as we can."
In addition to its own crews, LaRossa said the company has
arranged for more than 160 out-of-state utility and line contractor
crews to assist in the restoration effort.
"While we work to restore power to the greatest number of
customers first, we also have a large number of individual service
lines that are damaged as a result of falling tree limbs," he said.
"Repairing these single lines that go from our poles to customers'
homes and businesses pose the greatest challenge with this type of
storm."
The utility said the majority of outages are in Bergen, Essex, Passaic and Union counties due to the extensive amount of
tree and power line damage.
Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) is
New Jersey's oldest and largest
regulated gas and electric delivery utility, serving nearly
three-quarters of the state's population. PSE&G is the winner
of the ReliabilityOne National Achievement Award for superior
electric system reliability. PSE&G is a subsidiary of Public
Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG) (NYSE: PEG), a
diversified energy company (www.pseg.com).
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SOURCE Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G)