For Whom the Bulb Blows

The nice thing is the way the lights all go off, then flash back on for a moment, as (apparently) a backup circuit goes into action and then dies itself.

I wonder if the denizens of "Upper" Montclair feel so "Upper" about this. We "Rump-Enders" are have no such electrical complications.

Here's a good one, from the Board of Public Utility's website. The BPU supervises PSEG:

NOTICE OF ANTICIPATED VACANCY
CHIEF, BUREAU OF MARKET DEVELOPMENT AND SYSTEM RELIABILITY

The Bureau of Market Development and System Reliability oversees industry restructuring
issues, development of energy reliability standards, federal interconnection, and PJM regional
transmission matters. Market development includes basic generation supply policy, basic gas
supply service policy, customer account services and the monitoring of customers changing
energy suppliers. System Reliability includes regulatory oversight associated with the provision
of safe adequate and reliable electric distribution services and natural gas supply service.

Maybe the next person they hire will have a clue, or at least some sensitivity to the issue of "system reliability."

Cary

I can't speak to the first blackout, but after that, I finally reset the clock on my VCR, stove, microwave, etc., and the power went out again. Christmas Eve? Reset it. The most recent time I just put off resetting the VCR. Yep, you guessed it, Thursday afternoon I finally reset the VCR. For having done so, I apologize for causing the latest outage. You folks in the rest of Baristaville, just be glad I haven't used my toaster and table lamp at the same time.

This blackout affected my neighborhood at Broughton and Watchung in Bloomfield AGAIN. The 5th time in less than 4 weeks. I called PSEG, the Mayor's office,the Star Ledger and Bloomfield Life. Would have tipped of Baristanet but my computer was down...I still haven't reset every appliance since the mid dinner outage on Christmas Eve. Oh- haven't heard from the mayor either- who although not responsible for electrical outages, might take some interest in the lack of stability of the power grid affecting his constituents. I am furious about this.

Atttention Right of Center (dumb tm):

Your racist, way-off-base comment is why most educated center and left of centers think you far right, self-righteous preachers of hatred are jerks.

Living with the inconvenience of power outages is a lot easier than living with morons.

Why don't you get in a car and drive around the area affected...maybe you'll see that many of those affected, with small children, etc., are paying very high taxes while living in very normal homes while having to put up with misdirected nonsense from people like you.

"I am furious about this."

God Bless America.

Whoa, Bruce...it was a joke. Racist?

My husband and I just moved to this neighborhood in July, and out power also went out for the 4th (!) time last night. We made it thought the hot summer with everyone's air conditioners running, so why the lack of reliable power now? Does this happen every year?

Racist is not a one-way street.

I thought you right wingers didn't think inflammatory 'jokes' were funny...otherwise you'd watch Jon Stewart, et. al.

Bruce, I hope your press releases are clearer than that.

I don't get the "racist angle" at all.

I have no idea what "Racist is not a one-way street." means in this context. I certainly believe racism to be a two way street, I suppose. Sometime a highway, in fact. Often, I would even say, it is the substance used by some to "pave over" the real issue.

But since all we "right wingers" think alike I suppose *you* can tell *me* what I meant.

There was no "racism" in ROC's comments, Bruce. Or hatred. In any way. And this is from a right-winger who occasionally even watches Jon Stewart, always watches "South Park," nonetheless wonders what one's taste in TV has to do with what side of the political fence one lines up on re power outages. Is there even any side save opposition to them? (Oh for the days when one could call everything a "pinko plot!")

I also thought Maureen above expressed quite well genuine concerns about the civic effect of such outages. She's spot on here.

Mr Maguire,

So the typical response from the left wingers bereft of any ideas is to immediately lash out with the 'race card' and then follow it up with the old reliable canard "I thought you right wingers..".

Certainly you must have more in your arsenal than the same old Jesse Jackson talking points.

p.s. I would also like to point out that it was NOT I which brought the Left/Right angle into this.

(I don't suppose pointing that out will make much difference at all, will it?)

I tend to disagree with him, but I see nothing inflamatory about ROC's post. What exactly is the problem?

I don't understand the surprise here. When I lived in Upper Montclair circa 1990-5, power outages were all the norm in Fall and Winter. It was amusing to see one side of my street dark, while the other was completely illuminated.

Time to build a little fire in the bedroom fireplace and read by candle light. A nice Cabernet helped.

This is old infrastructure, not third world living.

Like ROC, when I moved Downtown, this was hardly ever an issue, even when the East Coast and part of the MidWest went out a couple of summers ago. I did then feel it important to conserve and shut down all but one computer, one tv and one AC unit.

ahem...back to the original power issue, having the cable fail is better than replacing it in a preventative maintenance fashion for the utilities. the cable is an insured asset, they get to have an inevitable upgrade partially funded. just be grateful you have pse&g, jcp&l is a far inferior outfit, besides appliances & perishables lost, a generator is practically a necessity.

It makes me laugh how the broad generalization above made about the righties ("you far right, self-righteous preachers of hatred") was so quickly denounced, yet immediately followed by a broad generalization about the lefties ("left wingers bereft of any ideas").

oh so constructive

I'm all for conservation and practice it constantly. This was at 9:30 PM, no Air conditioners and no major East Coast grid failure. This is local yocals at PSE&G failing to properly diagnose and fix a problem. I can bet that if the problem was affecting the CEO's outer baristaville mansion, there would have been no failures after the first. I have made my complaint(on line) to the NJBPU about the frequency of the outages. I don't have the option of moving downtown to get satisfactory power reliability.

I got a great chuckle from PSEG's website link - HA! I lost power 4 times this past Summer (South end of Bloomfield). The first time I just assumed was a power overload due to the hot weather. The next three times I knew were likely due to a deficient maintenance program at PSEG. I lived in HOT Texas for 10 years and lost power only once (during a Hurricane).
My guess is that PSEG has neglected it's power system for so many years that repeat failures like this are apt to occur more often.

This kind of reminds me of summers in LBI...

In fact (much like the coast), so many of these properties have been improved with central AC, elevators, dedicated wine storage - etc.

Issue could be as much a demand side issue as aging infrastructure...

bingo! increased demand overall, squeezing what they can from old plant. a couple of years ago we lost power thirty times in two days at the shore, frankly every 4th of July there were major lengthy outages over the years. the power workers would be glad to have steady work, bringing things up to snuff. they are on the street & see where demand is evolving, however those trying to appease stock holders mull this over in their pointy heads and decide against pouring money into needed upgrades. at the shore, where the state finally fined jcp&l heavily and got them to agree to implementing an upgrade, jcp&l used out of state subcontractors to do the work. i can see pse&g going this route and they were always profitable enough to rise above that, it is a sign of the times

Shtoopid politiks aside, people affected by the outages should contact the NJ Board of Public Utilities in Newark about this. You can call 1-800-624-0241 and/or use the online complaint form at this link: http://www.bpu.state.nj.us/home/complaintForm.shtml

We live in "Downer Montclair" and our power has been out maybe 1-2 times in the past 3 years. There's been a couple times lately that it will flick off, for like 3 seconds. But, that's it. No long outages. Go Downer Montclair!

A couple of weeks ago we even had some drunk driver run into a pole outside and knock it down, all the wiring down, etc - but the power still worked!

We live in Upper Montclair (though I would never put that pretentious adjective on my stationary, if I had starionary, which I don't), and we haven't had any of these power failures that have supposedly reached epidemic proportions. I suppose when we do, I'll go back and read all these posts in the archives...

I'm in Upper Montclair (just moved here and also don't use the "upper" when I give my address - eww) -- I've lost power 4 times in the past three weeks, including Christmas Eve while we had 12 guests for dinner. I could understand an isolated incident -- but this is becoming a major headache. Fix the damn problem already PSE&G!

'Tis interesting when the lights go out and there's no computers, tv, or stereos -- the family has to actually talk to one another for entertainment. In a way, these incidents are kind of special.

word. the BPU is a very effective means of complaint, you will get immediate response on phone/power issues, they lack an intuition on those particular industries, but, kind of like motor vehicle inspection, are comfortable in a punitive role

I came to this forum to vent about our electrical problem. I can't believe it has devolved into political idiocy, I don't know why racism enters into it, Bruce, and I don't see what the heck the problem people have with part of the town's name? If you knew your history, right of center, you'd know that both parts of Montclair came from two different towns, and I don't know why the "Upper" designation of one of them makes you feel so insecure. Do you also get mad at people who live "up" the block?

Back to the supposed topic at hand, last night the power went off at 5:50pm in our house (on the north side of Lorraine Avenue) and did not go back on until after midnight. My dinner in the oven was completely ruined, and although we called and reported the outage immediately, we did not see PSE&G until 8:45pm. They didn't even want to be concerned about us until they "got more calls," which means I suppose that we should wait for everyone to get home from work and start calling before they take it seriously, and that our call isn't enough to check out. Sometime after they finally started poking around the block, the lights across the street also went off, and after those went back on around 11pm, our were still out. My husband again called PSE&G when he saw the trucks leave with us still in the dark, and they acted like they hadn't heard from us before (we both spoke to them at least 3 times in between the first call) and said they'd "send someone out." The power went back on after they finally worked around a transformer my husband told them he'd heard a popping noise from over six hours earlier, and which the earlier workers ignored.

The fact is we've lived in this house since 1983 and we've experienced power outages roughly monthly for the past 20 years. Some just brief enough to throw off all the clocks and the vcr, some longer, but this one is at least the third in a two week period. While my parents lived on Norwood Avenue during most of that time, they never had an outage whenever we did. And the outage never extends to the stores that are at the top of the block on Valley Road. It's ridiculous, and talking to the idiots at PSE&G is like dealing with the Stepford wives. They act like it's the first they've heard of it every time we tell them that this is an ongoing problem. It wasn't funny to notice the Montclair Times article while eating takeout by flashlight, especially the idea that these outages are "inevitable." Why should we be expected to find this acceptable, and why does the paper not challenge the utility on its rote answers and avoidance of the real issue? The power goes out all the time, and it should be investigated. Petitions are obviously being ignored, and the town should get involved.

Good point Susan. Anyone from the Montclair Times who's reading this care to comment or take up the cause on behalf of our citizens ? After all, it's your power grid too.

Way to go Susan. Send complaints to PSE&G, call the Star Legder like I did last evening( they said mine was the first call about the matter and they would check out how widespread it was), the NJBPU( via web and tel) and have all your neighbors do the same. It's ridiculous that we should have to spend the time to do this, but the next time it goes out- I'm calling Channel 2, 4 , 5, 7, 9 & 11 TV and they can broadcast us sitting in dark...

Perhaps the Great and Powerful Exelon will improve matters, after it takes over PSEG later this year. (That is, assuming the Dept. of Justice reaches the inevitable, foregone conclusion and approves the merger.) Then we get to bask in the glory of being customers of the nation's biggest utility, and will probably still be better off than folks in JCP&L territory...but you just never can tell.

And, IMHO, the pointy-heads and shareholders are really what it's all about, all the time.

For Bloomfield residents this e-mail reply was received by a resident from Ray Tamborini, Second Ward Councilman regarding the unacceptable spate of blackouts afflicting our neighborhood:

"I too, am in the affected area and have complained on each occasion.
The were duly apologetic but still offered no reasonable explaination.
Last night was the last excuse I was willing to accept and contacted
both the Regional and Corporate headquarters. To that end, I finally
spoke to someone who was seemingly interested in locating the problem
and fixing it accordingly. Though I have nothing definitive to report on
at this time, I expect to be releasing both a press release and message
on Channel 35 today. The basis of the message (hopefully) is to update
everyone on the progress being mad on this issue. I will also be sending
an e-mail to the council so that they are also aware of this problem as
well as placing the same on Monday night's agenda in order to report on
any progress.
Be assured that I am working on it and hope to have some answers
soon. Though I personally cannot fix the problem, I can gain the ear of
those in authority within PSE&G and make sure that they are aware that
this situation has progressed to well beyond a minor nuisance. Please be
patient.

Yours in service,
Ray Tamborini
Councilman
Township of Bloomfield
Municipal Plaza
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
P - (973) 680 4077
H - (973) 893-9055
F - (973) 893-9049
E - Tamborini@bloomfieldtwpnj.com"

Used to live on Valley Road by Appleton and I don't remember monthly outages but we might have missed that iffy section of the grid. BPU, people, contact the BPU.

(Here's some Montclarion history: http://www.to.montclair.nj.us/history/index.cfm. Funny thing happened at the Glenridge Ave. Post Office in Montclair several months ago. A woman came in and without waiting on the line for a clerk, she loudly asked, "If I send a letter to Upper Montclair, is that considered out of town?" Everyone in the place cracked up. I said to the gentleman standing next to me, "In her mind, it's another town.")

I live in Bloomfield near Watchung and Broad, and our power was also out last night for two or three hours. But I wonder if the chorus of dissent has finally been heard--late this afternoon I got a voice mail from PSE&G apologizing for the inconvenience and saying they were fixing a circuit. I quote: "We are in the proces of repairing that and there should not be any power outages while they are doing this." Anyone else get a call? Want to wager?

How come we're hearing from Bloomfield representatives.

Where's Ed Remsen when you need him?

Can we come over to your house, Ed and use your oven the nect time our lights go out?

When I returned home this evening there was a voice mail from Pam Walsh secretary to the Mayor of Bloomfield who at least responded to my rather irate voice mail at 9:50 pm regarding the 5th power outage. I haven't heard from PSE&G,although they have all my information and assured me someone in the voltage area would return my call. Supposedly last night's outage was due to a Clifton "switchover"... and the excuses continue...

I received several calls on the nights power went out in a large section of Upper Montclair including two nights ago. I was able to reach the Public Affairs Manager at home and insisted on a meeting with his operations people the next day. He called me early yesterday offering a meeting yesterday afternoon and our Town Manager attended since I had a work meeting in NYC. Joe and our top folks from DCS (the old Public Works) met with their operations director for the Metro Division and their supervising engineer. The source of the recent problems has been the Cook Place power circuit in Nutley that services customers from sections of Nutley, Bloomfield, Montclair and Little Falls. The faulty cable at this locations has, by now, been fully replaced. PSE+G says they are calling every customer affected by the outages.
Hopefully we will not see any additional problems of this type emanating from the Nutley power circuit facility.

We continue to have problems and there will be additional meetings: we are not happy with how long it takes to repair street lights and to respond to other non-emergency calls.

Ed,

Thank you for posting this information.

I'm glad you're working on this problem but wonder why this info hasn't been posted on town's website.

After all, this news is as important as Gray Russell's fellowship information and his info is on the town's website.

I'm not surprised... Pam from the mayor's office is a nice lady and good secretary. She ALWAYS returns calls and does her best. Good thing, because you may turn blue if you hold your breath waiting for Hiz Honor to grace you with a return call.