New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy called the recent outages after two nor'easters "completely and wholly unacceptable" and ordered the state Board of Public Utilities to examine "what went wrong and see if all preparedness measures were taken." Watch video
Power companies are the behemoth utilities that are easy to hate, especially when you are sitting in a cold, dark house with no electricity.
That certainly was the case for hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents who were left powerless after a string of nor'easters hit the state with strong winds and drenching rain.
The initial inconvenience often turns to frustration and anger as the power outages drag on for hours and then days.
Gov. Phil Murphy called the recent situation "completely and wholly unacceptable" and ordered the state Board of Public Utilities - which oversees the power companies - to examine "what went wrong and see if all preparedness measures were taken."
All this grousing is nothing new.
Similar outcries were heard when Hurricane Irene made a beeline for New Jersey in August 2011. Almost 930,000 homes and businesses across the state lost power. Some customers were without power for more than a week.
All the criticism of the power companies' response to the Irene outages resulted in the BPU holding public hearings to improve service for the next big storm. (Sound familiar?)
That next storm was not long in coming.
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A year later, Superstorm Sandy ravaged New Jersey with such fury that 2.8 million utility customers lost power at the peak of the storm and it took more than two weeks to fully restore power.
Again, there was pressure on the utility companies to do something.
In 2014, Public Service Electric & Gas, the state's largest utility company, received approval from the BPU for a $1.2 billion infrastructure upgrade and Jersey Central Power & Light announced it would invest more than $250 million to prevent outages.
So, you would think New Jersey should be able to weather a nor'easter or two without plunging into the dark ages of past hurricanes.
But the reality is that as long as there are power lines vulnerable to heavy snow and falling trees, we are going to continue to have similar mass outages with future storms.
But that does not let power companies off the hook.
When a storm is coming, electric providers have to be prepared with crews ready to roll.
It's equally important for power companies to listen to their customers and provide them with accurate information about the duration of outages. There is nothing more frustrating than getting the runaround from your power company.
Ratepayers cough up a lot of money for reliable electric service. And when nothing happens when a switch is flicked on, a homeowner or business owner has every right to be upset and not to be kept in the dark.
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