NEWARK — As New Jersey continues recovering from a week of extreme heat and successive rounds of severe thunderstorms, Public Service Electric & Gas said Sunday that it has restored power to approximately 275,000 customers since July 1 and continues around-the-clock restoration efforts.
The utility said about 22,000 customers remained without service as of 1 p.m. Sunday after a prolonged heat wave was followed by severe thunderstorms on July 3 and additional damaging storms on July 4. (Related story: Storms knock out power, topple trees in Pascack Valley; more rain expected.)
PSE&G reported that the Independence Day storms alone caused about 70,000 outages, with approximately 55,000 customers restored by Sunday afternoon.
The utility said roughly 255 transformers and 240 utility poles were damaged during the week, while fallen trees, broken limbs and damaged electrical equipment continue to complicate restoration efforts.
“Some families have experienced days of heat followed by multiple rounds of damaging storms causing extended power outages,” said Paul Toscarelli, PSE&G vice president of Electric Operations. “We understand how challenging that is, and we want our customers to know that every available crew—along with incoming out-of-state mutual aid crews—is working as safely and quickly as possible to restore service.”
Toscarelli said the extensive damage requires rebuilding portions of the electric system in some locations before service can be restored.
PSE&G noted that customers may not immediately see utility crews in their neighborhoods because repairs often begin on damaged transmission lines, substations and distribution circuits that feed entire communities before crews move to individual streets and service connections. The utility said restoration work also includes clearing fallen trees and branches so lineworkers can safely access damaged equipment.
Because of the back-to-back weather events, PSE&G said crews are first restoring customers affected by the earlier heat wave and July 3 storms before addressing outages caused by the July 4 storms. Restoration priorities also include hospitals, emergency services and other critical facilities before neighborhood and individual service outages.
In addition to restoring electrical service, PSE&G said its appliance service technicians have completed more than 5,500 air-conditioning repair calls since June 30, restoring cooling to customers in an average of 16 hours.
The utility urged residents to stay at least 30 feet away from downed power lines, operate portable generators only outdoors, check on elderly or vulnerable neighbors during the continued warm weather, and ensure anyone relying on electrically powered medical equipment has a backup plan.
Customers can report outages through the PSE&G mobile app, by texting OUT to 4PSEG (47734), calling 1-800-436-PSEG (7734) or visiting the utility’s online outage center.