PSE&G UPDATE

This from late last night:

PSE&G Service Restoration Update – Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 10:30 p.m.

Outages:
-- 2,630 outages remain from Hurricane Sandy. Power has now been restored to more than 99 percent of the 1.7 million customers impacted.
-- 4,520 outages remain from the Nor’easter Wednesday night.  

• With the vast majority of customers affected by Sandy now restored, the nearly 4,000 utility and out-of-state linemen will continue to work around the clock to restore the remaining customers this weekend. Most of the these outages result from localized issues that were not corrected when a system or circuit outage was restored. These include damaged electrical service lines that lead from the pole to a customer's home or business.
• Advice for customers: If your neighbors have had their power restored and you are still out, please call customer service at 1 800-436-7734. If our automated system indicates that power has been restored to your area and you have no power, please follow the prompts to place a new “no power” order. If the system states that your order already is registered, there is no need to place a new one. Unless customers call to report an outage, PSE&G may not know that there is still an issue at a particular location.
• Since service restoration began, PSE&G has replaced at least 2,500 poles and 1,000 transformers, as well as cut down 41,000 trees, to repair widespread damage from the hurricane. Contrary to rumors, PSE&G has ample supplies of poles and other equipment on hand.
• Gas inspections: To safeguard the public’s safety, PSE&G is inspecting customer gas piping, metering equipment and appliances in towns flooded by Sandy. Inspections are complete in 20 towns, with no additional gas shut-offs expected. Door-to-door inspections will continue over the next few days in Harrison, Bayonne, Hoboken, Jersey City, Moonachie and Little Ferry. If someone is not home, we will leave a card with a phone number to call. A gas inspector will be available in the evenings. Inspections will take priority over other gas-related calls, except emergencies.
• Since the start of the storm, PSE&G call centers have handled more than 2.1 million calls. We have suspended non-emergency work so that more workers are available to respond to customer calls.