Utilities Companies Leave Township Residents in the Dark

Here’s the good news. According to PSE&G’s outage map, instead of having more than 10,000 customers in East Brunswick without power, it now has between 5,000 and 10,000.

The bad news is, of course, that thousands are still in the dark, and many people have no idea what’s going on. In fact, according to Facebook, residents don’t know who has power and who doesn’t, or if the utility companies are evening coming to help.

“Yesterday around 5 p.m. I saw utility trucks from MI driving up Old Stage Road. Not sure where they were headed. I never see any JCP&L trucks though. I saw a bunch of Verizon trucks working on Dunhams also,” said Wendy Tiero.

Felix Soto said he is frustrated with the lack of communication from PSE&G.

“I keep checking their website but as usual its as vague as their customer service,” said Soto. “Called yesterday and they said ‘within 7 days’ but couldn't tell me from which date. Now their site is saying the majority of people should be up by (Nov. 7). But keep in mind, I heard on the radio we have a nor’easter coming next week and a little more than 80 percent of East Brunswick is still without power, according to their site.”

Jimmy “Firehead” Tomori said he has noticed that East Brunswick is among the slowest to recover this time around and blamed the problem, in part, on Mayor David Stahl.

“East Brunswick has been the slowest to recover this time. Milltown usually is slow and they're up. This is ridiculous,” he said. “The mayor's priority is the 18 businesses, not us residents. JCP&L, they are getting a big fat ‘F’ on this one, $250 million in improvements since last storm? Huh, they should get a refund on that bill.”

Other residents agreed, and are angry about the lack of power, especially with the weather turning cold.

“We should all as a community address this issue with the mayor,” said Michelle Cecere-Oudeh. “This is ridiculous. I have not seen a truck anywhere in my area. I understand people have lost everything but I have kids and I need power to keep them warm. They are my first priority over anyone else no matter what.”

Some residents were quick were quick to say that Mayor Stahl and the township have little influence over how utility companies operate.

"Mayor Stahl does not control the utilities or their equipment," said Michael Baker. "He is the wrong target and you cannot overestimate the level of control that town officials have....not much."

For his part, Mayor Stahl has been actively trying to inform residents of the status of power through is Twitter account. In an interview with Patch on Thursday, he sounded frustrated with the lack of information coming from both utility companies.

“I’m disappointed with the response from power companies,” he said. “I look forward to hearing more information from them so that I can in turn pass that on to residents who have concerns so they can have some reasonable expectations as to when the power is coming back."

Still though, some residents are just “in the dark” about why they don’t have power, even after seeing the elusive utility truck.

 “I saw 2 on Ryder's last night about 6:30. Wondering why they haven't taken care of the snapped pole being held by wires in front of someone's lawn by Colonial Dr. area. No power by Warnsdorfer,” said Sue Kwiecinski Lopez.

Others say they have indeed seen these elusive utility trucks, but aren’t sure what they are doing.

 “I’ve seen (utility trucks) but they’re not working. Sitting in their trucks! No power on Crescent Avenue section of East Brunswick,” said Tricia Potochar Seaver.

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And then there are people who have no idea who has power and who doesn’t. If you have power, let us know and we’ll post it!

In addition, if you have a complaint, feel free to voice it here.