No Estimates from PSE&G on Restoration

PSE&G doesn’t know when you will have power. However, there is an explanation as to why you're told “Nov. 5” as the date to expect it back when you call the company's feedback line.

Basically, the damage from Sandy was so great, the utility company simply doesn’t know. In fact, according to PSE&G's twitter feed, the company isn't even giving details on specific outages.

“Hurricane Sandy has caused unprecedented damage, twice as much damage as Hurricane Irene.  Many of our facilities were flooded by coastal surges, water-logging our equipment and making our stations and facilities difficult to access,” said a statement from PSE&G.

Under normal circumstances, PSE&G knows how long it takes to respond to reports of problems and restore service. That experience and the information given to customers goes into a system where an Expected Time of Restoration (ETR.) is generated. These estimates are fairly accurate given normal storms.

“The amount of time it will take to begin working on a specific job may not be known, especially until a full assessment of the damage is done.  Accordingly, at some point in a storm, we begin using a ‘Storm ETR’, or ‘Global ETR’. This is an estimate of when all customers in our territory are expected to be restored,” said the statement.
 
Once the full extent of the damage is known, current estimates may be changed, and customers who requested a callback will be notified if that changes is more than 2 hours in either direction.

Until then call centers are fully staffed, 24/7 and safely repairing storm damage and restoring power is our number one priority. Call us at 800-436-PSEG (7734).