PSE&G Apologizes to Village for Incomplete Press Release

Following a day of tense discussions with PSE&G officials, South Orange Village President Alex Torpey confirmed priority status for South Orange to have power restored.

Torpey received the following e-mail, at 5:30 p.m. today, from John McManus, Project Manager at PSE&G regarding an earlier press release by PSE&G.

Mayor Torpey:

Our apologies for statements in our press release this morning that may have caused confusion regarding our work priorities.  South Orange is one of the towns in Essex County that has been placed on a high prioritized list. We have crews working hard in and around South Orange Saturday, Sunday and Monday ensuring that power is restored to residents by Monday, which is our ETR for the Village.

John J. McManus
Project Manager - PSE&G
Essex County OEM Liaison

Village officials, after speaking with county and state officials, were able to confirm that South Orange is on the priority list for repairs in Essex County and that repairs are being made to South Orange homes this weekend. 

In a statement earlier in the afternoon, the village confirmed the following information:

The ETR (estimated time of restoration) for South Orange is Monday, November 5, which means that work obviously must be done prior to that to complete everything by that date.

You can find this information from the state of New Jersey, which confirms the expedited schedule we have been promised here. 

Many other towns which are high priorities, such as Caldwell, were also mistakenly left off the list this morning, and Village, county and state officials have asked PSE&G to release a formal statement clarifying/correcting the original announcement from this morning.

Residents remain in the dark around town, and many are skeptical about PSE&G's reports of power already restored in South Orange.  Others have been told their power will be restored as late as Nov. 15, after earlier reports of Nov. 5 and then Nov. 9.  No resident has yet reported power restored to Patch or on active Maplewood Online threads. School is (for now) scheduled to open on Monday. Elections are Tuesday.