19,314 Still Without Power In Monmouth County

It was nice to wake up in air conditioning and not have to head off to Starbucks or McDonalds for power and Wifi.

I spent more time inside McDonalds this week since, well since ever.  I would have had to work at a McDonalds to have spent more time inside one than I did this week.  Perhaps it is an indication of the state of the economy.  Perhaps it is a indication of McDonalds’ recruitment and training. Perhaps it is an indication of my prejudices. Perhaps all of the above.  It seems to me that the people working at the McDonalds on Route 35 in Middletown and the one on Route 36 in Leonardo are decidedly more middle class than I expected.   They are friendly, articulate, accommodating and industrious.  No one asked me, “Would you like fries with that?”  I learned what a McFlurry is.

Governor’s Conference Call

Last night I was invited to listen into a conference call Governor Christie held with his cabinet and elected officials throughout the State.  Christie has been holding these calls at least daily since the days before Irene hit.

Despite the mixed reviews I had heard about these calls from several elected officials who had been on them during the week, I was impressed.

I am impressed with the quality of the team that Governor Christie has assembled to manage our State government.  Over the course of my career I have participated in or been privy too several executive level conferences in both the private and public sector. In very large enterprises and small.  Christie’s team stands out. They are extraordinarily competent and focused on getting the job done.

There was quite a bit of conversation about JCP&L.  Monmouth County is not the only place suffering with JCP&L’s inadequate and disingenuous response to the storm.  Mayor Timothy McDonough of Warren County’s Hope Township reported frustrations with JCP&L that are very similar to what we’ve experienced in Monmouth County. 

BPU President Lee Solomon recounted a conversation with JCP&L executives who asked him what more he thought they should be doing. “Tell your people to tell the truth,” Soloman said, “if your people are talking to a mayor or councilman, tell them the truth.  Don’t tell them what you think they want to hear or what you think will make them go away.”    Imagine that.

Christie and Solomon said they’d be talking further about JCP&L after the call last night.  Solomon said BPU was focused on getting all the power up and that JCP&L was on his radar for further work after the crisis has past.

Christie said that since Sunday the utilities have been restoring power at a rate of 8900 customers per hour.  JCP&L has obviously been dragging down that average.  Overnight last night they restored power at a rate of little over 1000 customers per hour just in Monmouth County.

The contrast between PSEG’s response to Irene and JCP&L’s response is like comparing the Yankees to the Mets.  Sorry Governor.

PSEG vs. JCPL

As of early this morning, PSEG has 15,000 customerswithout power in their entire service area.  There service area includes Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Union, Passaic, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset Counties.

JCP&Lhas 19,314 customers without power just in Monmouth County. They have 13,834 customers without power in Morris County, 9934 in Sussex County, 5941 in Hunterdon County, 6732 in Somerset County, 3643 in Union County, 3324 in Essex, and 3124 in Warren.  If I missed any…so did JCP&L.

A loyal MMM reader provided an antedotal contrast between PSEG and JCP&L:

My father was a construction super for PSE&G for 40 years.  I am literally first person in my family who came to this country who not to work for PSE&G— great grandfather when it was a trolly car company, my grandfather, my father and uncles, etc. all worked for PSE&G.  Every time there were events like this my father would be living in portable trailers at job sites for months at a time.  He always said JCPL sucked and never invested in infrastructure since they were bought by First Energy out of Ohio.  PSE&G would have to bail them out all the time.  PSE&G is a New Jersey company with more than 100 year history here.  Most of its employees all live here too. Note where First Energy’s executive’s live:  https://www.firstenergycorp.com/about/leadership_team.html.

That story is consistent with the graphic that greets visitors to PSEG’s website:

Contrast that to the lunatic who says he’s a JCP&L lineman that has been harassing me and Mike Halfacre in the comments here and on facebook.  I hope that rectum crater is not really a JCP&L lineman blogging during this crisis, but given the JCP&L response and the info he has given me to contact his union office, I wonder.  I’ll be contacting his union and continuing to delete is his comments here.

Estimated Customers Out For
MONMOUTH County
As of Sep 1, 2011 6:29 AM

Total Out = 19314

Posted: September 1st, 2011 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Hurricane Irene, JCP&L | Tags: BPU, Chris Christie, Hurricane Irene, JCP&L, Lee Solomon, McDonald's, Mike Halfacre, PSEG, Starbucks | 2 Comments »

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