(NEWARK, N.J. – July 23, 2019) Public Service Electric & Gas, New Jersey’s largest utility, is working around the clock to restore power to customers affected by last night’s storm. The majority of the physical damage caused by the storm occurred in Burlington, Camden and Mercer counties.

As of 10 a.m. today, PSE&G crews have restored power to approximately 185,000 customers affected by the storm. PSE&G is coordinating mutual aid with out-of-state utility companies as far away as Canada to help restore power to the roughly 55,000 customers still affected.

Damage and outage reports are still coming in from the field. The restoration process gives priority to returning service to as many customers as quickly as possible; repairs are made based on the number of customer affected. For local estimated restoration times, visit pseg.com/outagecenter and click on the outage map.

“We have extra crews, storm support personnel and over 500 mutual aid workers responding to get everyone back as quickly and safely as possible,” said Jack Bridges, PSE&G vice president for electric operations. “Heavy winds caused large trees to fall on power lines and tree crews have been called in to assist. We have additional supplies on-hand, including poles, transformers and other pole-top equipment.”

Customers should be cautious and stay alert to their surroundings after storms.

“As a matter of safety, we remind everyone to stay away from downed wires and always assume they are energized,” Bridges said.

Stay away from downed wires:

• Downed wires should always be considered “live.” Stay at least 30 feet away from downed wires. Do not approach or drive over a downed line and do not touch anything with which it might be in contact.
• If a wire falls on or near your car, stay inside the car, call 911, and do not get out until PSE&G de-energizes the line. If you MUST get out of the vehicle because it is on fire: jump as far as possible away from the vehicle, with both feet landing on the ground at the same time, keep feet as close together as possible and hop or shuffle away using as small a shuffle as possible.

PSE&G prepares year-round for extreme weather to maintain reliable service for our customers. We always encourage customers to monitor the weather and avoid being in extreme heat for lengthy periods during power outages.

Stay connected with PSE&G:

• Compile a list of emergency phone numbers; include PSE&G Customer Service 1-800-436-PSEG.
• Go to pseg.com/myaccount to sign up to report outages online and to check restoration progress.
• Go to pseg.com/outagecenter to check the “Outage Map,” which is updated every 15 minutes with PSE&G outage information, and to register for MyAlerts to receive text notifications.
• You can report an outage by texting “OUT” to 4PSEG (47734).
• “Like” PSEG on Facebook and follow PSEG on Twitter @PSEGdelivers.

Other important safety notes:

• To prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, do not run any gasoline-powered generators in a garage or any other enclosed space.
• If you are on life-sustaining medical equipment, ensure that you alert PSE&G in advance and notify your local police and fire departments. For more information, visit pseg.com/life.