PSE&G Releases Latest Power Restoration Plan

Update, 11/6, 11 a.m.: PSE&G just released an updated power restoration plan. It shows that roughly 45% of Maplewood -- or 4,294 customers -- remains without power. The new plan estimates that approximately 1,000 customers will be restored each day on Tuesdsay, Wednesday and Thursday. The rest will be restored by Saturday; 51 customers will remain without power after that date, according to the plan. (It is attached to this article as a PDF).

PSE&G also has tweeted to some Maplewood customers that one issue with restoration is that some downed wires are located in backyards that are tricky to get to, and some of those are transmission lines that feed electricity to other residences and streets.

Clinton, Maplewood Middle School and Tuscan Schools are still without power. Jefferson School is now open.

Also on the horizon, the National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for the tri-state area. The forecasts predicts a Nor'easter to hit the state Wednesday into Thursday.

Update, 11/6, 9:12 a.m.: PSE&G announced it is issuing a revised workplan shortly. As soon as it is available, Patch will report on it here, as well as on our Facebook page and on Twitter. The company said this morning it had restored an additional 30,000 customers statewide overnight; it is unclear how many of those were in Maplewood.

According to Mayor DeLuca in an update on Maplewood Online Monday night:

Lights have come back on at the senior citizen building on Irvington Ave. They also were restored in the Village and on some of the streets west of the Village. Lights back on Brookwood, Meadowbrook, parts of Elmwood and Parker and Woodside. I do not think PSEG reached their 2,000 goal for today. Just another disappointment from our utility company.

I pitched Maplewood's story to the Star Ledger and spoke to Governor/Senator Codey. I plan on continuing to pressure PSEG until power is restored. Their plan released this morning talks of another 1,000 customers being restored on Tuesday. 

As of the beginning of the day, the initial 9,100 outages have been reduced by 3,400 to 5,700. Hundreds more were put on today and more tomorrow.

Don't get sidetracked by the responses from PSEG customer service. They know of every service outage. The Township has a map of all trees that were knocked down. That is how public works, police and fire personel make post storm plans. We have given this information to PSEG dispatchers and our county office of emergency management. 

We are still talking about some assistance with NYC commuters. Hopefully we will have an idea tomorrow. 

The shelter tonight has been moved to the Burgdorf Center on Durand Road. This was because of election day. 

You will be able to vote tomorrow at your normal polling place. 6am until 8pm. Voting at Clinton will be in the trailers in the rear. 

If you are emailing me using the Township email, that has not worked since Tuesday, October 30th. 

There is still no power at Tuscan, Clinton & MMS. We are working to get these sites back up along with Winchester Gardens. 

Update, 11/5, 5 p.m.

In a phone interview with Patch, Assemblyman John McKeon said that while PSE&G's latest statistics show that 95% of customers statewide will be restored by Tuesday, "all percentages are meaningless if you are the 5% still without power." McKeon said that according to PSE&G, "their crews are everywhere" but they have not been more specific about restoration times for Maplewood and South Orange.

"We are going to continue to press them and be a squeaky wheel," said McKeon. He said that later, after every customer had been restored to power, he would ask PSE&G to explain why the restoration efforts had taken so long.

Meanwhile, Maplewood Village lost power at around 2 p.m. on Monday, just before Maplewood's Halloween Parade. "We have been told it is temporary, as they are working to repair power lines," said Mayor Vic DeLuca.

Work crews from as far away as Florida and Texas have been seen throughout town.

Update, 11/4, 9:30 a.m.

PSE&G has released its latest work plan, which can be seen here. The revised plan is now a six-day plan, which estimates that of the 5,442 Maplewood customers (or roughly 57%) still without power:

• 2,140 will be restored by end of day Monday, 11/5
• 1,070 by Tuesday
• 1,070 by Wednesday
• 407 by Thursday
• 265 by Friday
• 172 by Saturday

That will leave 318 customers still not restored by Saturday.

Update, 11/4, 10:45 p.m.

This afternoon, after PSE&G revised its original estimates of power restoration to the township, Mayor DeLuca urged residents to personally email Ralph LaRossa, PSE&G's president, at Ralph.LaRossa@pseg.com.

Here is the email DeLuca sent to LaRossa:

Dear Mr. LaRossa, PSEG has mislead the people of Maplewood with the estimated time of restoration. We were initally told Sunday would be the day of restoration and now we are being told the restoration will be over the next two days and that is not even 100% restoration. The new schedule is not acceptable. Restore our power according to the orginal schedule. 

A revised workplan released by PSE&G early Sunday morning reported the following:

• 2,186 customers expected to be restored by end of day Sunday, 11/4
• 1,092 customers expected to be restored by end of day Monday, 11/5
• 1,092 customers expected to be restored by end of day Tuesday, 11/6

Out of a total of 9,496 customers in Maplewood, 5,682 (or nearly 60%) remain without power. If the restoration plan is accurate, there will still be 1,412 customers without power on Wednesday.

PSE&G continues to give Friday, Nov. 9 as the LATEST date by which ALL customers will be restored.

A copy of the workplan is attached to this article as a PDF. It can also be accessed here.

There have been reports of power trickling back to certain streets and areas, including Springfield Avenue, Burnett Avenue, the area near DeHart Park, Jacoby Street (including Seth Boyden School), Irvington Avenue and the Hillcrest Area

In its most recent press release, as of 11 a.m. Sunday morning, PSE&G wrote:

At the request of the Governor, we have provided details on our work plan for the next three days.  It is available on our website (www.pseg.com/workplan). The number of customers expected to be restored is an estimate based on work currently assigned and will change based on emergent conditions and the need to reprioritize work. An updated plan will be posted late this afternoon.