Gottheimer Calls On Orange & Rockland To Work Around The Clock

MAHWAH, NJ — After tropical storm Isaias caused power outages throughout much of the state, outages in Bergen County continue to linger now almost a week removed from the storm.

Crews from local power providers have made progress, but Congressman Josh Gottheimer said Sunday that he was frustrated with the planning of one company.

PSE&G and Jersey Central Power & Light have crews working in shifts 24-hours a day to restore power to customers in northern New Jersey. So why doesn't Orange & Rockland?

"With hot summer temperatures and many families working from home, it’s very frustrating that O&R is not working around the clock — 24/7 — to restore power to North Jersey residents," said Gottheimer.

"Other utility companies have organized teams to work in shifts through every hour of the day to get electricity back up. I appreciate what every company is doing to get the lights back on, but we have far too many families without water and septic right now — including many seniors unable to leave their homes."

In Mahwah, 35 O&R customers remain without power Monday morning, while six additional customers in Wyckoff are also without power.

As of 9:11 a.m., Orange & Rockland reports 250 customers still without power in Bergen County, and another 147 without power in Passaic County.

On Sunday, the company began posting individual service restoration times on their outage map, which they said should give customers a better idea of how "better plan their daily lives as they await service restoration."

The company said it would also reimburse customers who lost power for over 48 consecutive hours for food and prescription medicine spoilage.

"Recognizing that COVID-19 heightens the hardship of being without power, O&R announced yesterday that it will reimburse customers for food and prescription medicine spoilage if they lost power for 48 consecutive hours or longer during the storm," the company said.

The company now says it expects power to be fully restored to customers by 11 p.m. Tuesday.