U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg raised his concerns regarding New Jersey residents paying high estimated electric bills despite the fact that they lost power for a significant amount of time. As a result, PSE&G recently announced their decision to allow customers affected by Superstorm Sandy to pay a pro-rated amount on their estimated bill by deducting for the number of days they went without electricity.

Following Sandy, many customers received electric bills that were not based on their actual usage, but were estimated based on seasonal usage. PSE&G’s policy will allow these customers to estimate the amount that is owed in accordance with the number of days they went without power. They will then pay this amount while avoiding any late charges. According to Lautenberg’s office, those customers who have already paid their November bill will see the difference reflected on their December bill.

Lautenberg commented on this plan:

I am pleased that PSE&G has instituted a policy in the aftermath of Sandy that will prevent customers from overpaying their bills. Many families are fighting to get back in their homes and rebuild after the storm, and they can’t be paying out of pocket for services they never received. We will continue working with New Jersey residents to ensure businesses are treating them fairly and helping them in the recovery process.

Lautenberg has also requested that other New Jersey utilities follow suit and provide their customers with similar relief.

Although customers may be quite angry with their utilities over how long it has taken them to restore power, they must realize just how much damage was done by this powerful storm. Tens of thousands of trees were knocked down and roughly one thousand transformers were put out of commission. Aside from repairing the damage, PSE&G also had to make enough time to respond to the two million customer calls reporting various problems.

The majority of difficulties have already been tended to as PSE&G stated they have restored electricity to “virtually all customers.” If anyone remains without power, they are highly encouraged to call PSE&G directly at 800-436-7734.

Sarah Battaglia
Energy Curtailment Specialists, Inc.