Outages Linger In Bergen, Passaic County

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — Hundreds of people are still without power across Bergen and Passaic County on Monday, nearly a week after tropical storm Isaias caused mass outages.

The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory until 8 p.m., meaning those last to have power restored will spend another scorching day without air conditioning, refrigeration and patience.

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

PSE&G reports 258 without power in Bergen County, and an additional 223 in Passaic County as of 10 a.m. Estimates for restoration, according to the company's outage map, show many Bergen County communities can expect power back by some point Monday evening or night.

No estimate for restoration is available for Wayne Township, as the company is, "reassessing condition."

Jersey Central Power & Light reports fewer than five outages in Wayne Township, and estimates that power will be restored to those customers by 11:30 p.m. Monday.

The companyies report progress, but are making concessions to customers still experiencing the loss of power.

"We have made great progress in restoring customers, and understand that is of little comfort to those still without air conditioning, lights and charged cell phones. Our entire team is committed to working around the clock until every customer gets their power back," said PSE&G COO Kim Hanemann in a weekend statement.

On Sunday, Orange & Rockland 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.

Orange & Rockland drew ire from Fifth District Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who questioned why the company hadn't been working around the clock as PSE&G and JCP&L have.

"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."