Sandy repair check - do you have power?

[PolarBear]

Originally Posted by 1320B4U

You have my respect polarbear....thought i would have gotten reamed for asking that question...lol.


Biggest issue i think folks have is not w/not having power but the trouble they are having getting a response or timeline.

I understand the issues with wanting/needing to know when a person is going to get restoration. The problem is there is a disconnect between the side of the company that takes the phone calls and the company that does the repairs (PSEG is actually 4 different companies and the side that does call support is not in direct contact with the side that does the repairs, at least as I understand it but I see it firsthand within my department even). The call center has no way to know how the system processed the information and how the division is going to prioritize the repairs once the major stuff is done.

The only way to get that info is to talk to a supervisor in the division, but then this takes time away from that person to do his/her job. Some people have been literally LIVING at work for the past week and are working hard to restore your service. My friend has to support our network operations and she was here for 29 hours last week in one sitting, she slept and and here for the entire time.

[LTb1ow]

My work lost two weeks of time becuase the idiots who coordinate the crews round us have no clue where or what grids do what and we lost prob a few million in revenue due to a bad fuse in one transformer.

Solution to figuring out if a transformer is good, well, energize it up, if it blows, guess its bad!

And thats coming from the prez of JCP&L, one of the guys at work knows him and asked why we lost power. I understand the overwhelming amount of people that need help and the limited resources, but everything I have heard indicates that JCP&L are struggling to do anything short of saying their doing all they can.

:shrugs:

Would have thought they would have plans for this stuff, find problem in this grid, fix problem, turn on grid, move on. Triage it if you want etc. God knows I pay for electric and would be nice if they spent that money on more than just keeping Bear employed :P

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by LTb1ow

My work lost two weeks of time becuase the idiots who coordinate the crews round us have no clue where or what grids do what and we lost prob a few million in revenue due to a bad fuse in one transformer.

Solution to figuring out if a transformer is good, well, energize it up, if it blows, guess its bad!

And thats coming from the prez of JCP&L, one of the guys at work knows him and asked why we lost power. I understand the overwhelming amount of people that need help and the limited resources, but everything I have heard indicates that JCP&L are struggling to do anything short of saying their doing all they can.

:shrugs:

Would have thought they would have plans for this stuff, find problem in this grid, fix problem, turn on grid, move on. Triage it if you want etc. God knows I pay for electric and would be nice if they spent that money on more than just keeping Bear employed :P

What leads me to believe it's a problem with JCP&L is last year's situation. PSE&G had more that twice the amount of people out of power and still beat JCP&L to 100% restored by a large margin.

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

Solution for new cans: Siphon. I've used it on my ski for years and use it on the generator now.

Bear, it's too bad you don't work for JCP&L to give me one of their updates!

[LTb1ow]

Originally Posted by WildBillyT

What leads me to believe it's a problem with JCP&L is last year's situation. PSE&G had more that twice the amount of people out of power and still beat JCP&L to 100% restored by a large margin.

Yup, "hurricane Christy" is now upon them, and as he should.

Sure they have 2 million customers, which also means they have a **** ton of revenue coming in all year, so them not being prepared to fix their infrastructure bothers me.

/angry bussiness rant

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by Anti_Rice_Guy

Solution for new cans: Siphon. I've used it on my ski for years and use it on the generator now.

Bear, it's too bad you don't work for JCP&L to give me one of their updates!

I retrofitted my cans with a sealable vent and gutted the nozzle.

[sweetbmxrider]

I still think people don't grasp the situation. I watched countless transformers blow up first hand. Countless tress fell adding another complex to the process of restoring the grids. I can't imagine what could have blown at substations when things went down while there was still power in them. The fact that we had power restored so quickly is nothing short of amazing. This is not just the local guys too, there are utility companies here from around the country. They have to learn all that is going on, where to go, etc etc and I can only humble myself in knowing how far they are from home to help bring some normality to my life. I really think people need to step back and appreciate it all. I still don't have power where I currently rent and I have no problem waiting for it.

[LTb1ow]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

I still think people don't grasp the situation. I watched countless transformers blow up first hand. Countless tress fell adding another complex to the process of restoring the grids. I can't imagine what could have blown at substations when things went down while there was still power in them. The fact that we had power restored so quickly is nothing short of amazing. This is not just the local guys too, there are utility companies here from around the country. They have to learn all that is going on, where to go, etc etc and I can only humble myself in knowing how far they are from home to help bring some normality to my life. I really think people need to step back and appreciate it all. I still don't have power where I currently rent and I have no problem waiting for it.

Not trying to take away from it, cause they are certainly far from home etc, but they are def making bank with OT, travel time, hazardous pay etc.

[sweetbmxrider]

I'll be tempted to ask next time I see an out of state truck. I'm not talking PA or NY or DE, I've seen Michigan State Police, trucks from texas, new mexico, louisianna, and so on.

[OG]

If you were making double or triple time would you be in a rush???

DGAF about excuses. I'm still outta power and I'm disgruntled.

[1320B4U]

I heard local region triple time today as well. If your from a region w/a lower pay scale, and you work in say LI, your definately making some bank these couple of weeks. I've seen montana plates but the scouters by me were all from Florida and freezing their butts off, told them i'd sell them firewood cheap.

[L695speed]

Well for those of you who still don't have power. I don't know where it was going, but last night I came up behind an 18 wheeler flatbed filled with power transformers. It was heading northbound on 206 heading through the square in Newton. So I guess some people up here in NW Jersey will be getting power back soon I hope. I heard people saying they won't have power til December.

I agree that the lack of communication and the inability to plan and uncertainty is driving people insane and getting people angry. My mom was getting all stressed out from the lack of power because of the cold, darkness and crappy meals we've had to quickly make due to things going bad or cooking frozen things. And we did stock up on things before the storm. We knew it was going to go out. Didn't expect to go 8 days without power.

Hope those with kids in school are not gonna get screwed with plans for Christmas and what not. I've heard of schools saying they will cut into Christmas break because of the storm. Hopactcong I know has more than 10 days without school and they are still using the HS as a shelter.

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by L695speed

Hope those with kids in school are not gonna get screwed with plans for Christmas and what not. I've heard of schools saying they will cut into Christmas break because of the storm. Hopactcong I know has more than 10 days without school and they are still using the HS as a shelter.

kids have to go to school 180 days, that is state law. they gotta go sometime

[BigAls87Z28]

Yeah, my little brother's spring break has been eliminated because teachers cannot work past a certain day.

Anyway, power came back Weds, so I turned on every single ****ing light I could and cranked the heat up to 75*. Power then went out about an hour later, only to return.

My father had as similar issue. Power returned to him Sunday, but then it went out with the snow storm. It came back around 8 tonight.

[V]

The amount of trucks that are staged at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus is ridiculous.
I'm talking hundreds.

All seem to be out of state, yet during the days, I never see them anywhere around.

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28

Yeah, my little brother's spring break has been eliminated because teachers cannot work past a certain day.

they have contracts. if they stay too long we have to pay them

[PolarBear]

Originally Posted by V

The amount of trucks that are staged at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus is ridiculous.
I'm talking hundreds.

All seem to be out of state, yet during the days, I never see them anywhere around.

Those are for PSEG, that was one of the locations for the volunteers to go and work from

[Treetop]

2012/11/10 About 90% of the town is back...gas lines are down...

Now I need to get back and have my rear end looked at on my 97 z28 Convertible...

[L695speed]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

kids have to go to school 180 days, that is state law. they gotta go sometime

I've heard of people saying they will see if they can get the state to waive that requirement because they all have 5+ "snow" days already and we haven't even hit the worst of winter yet. Even my Mom said by the time summer comes around they're all watching stupid movies in class. Hopactcong tried to get the state to waive the requirement last year, after that freak October storm. The state said no. This time....god knows what will happen. Hopefully, the teachers cooperate if they have to have class on saturdays to get to 180 days. Thanks to the cancellation of the teachers convention in AC...some districts up here only have 3 snow days vs 5+. Some are just opening on Monday for the first time or yesterday. They're the ones who are gonna get screwed on schedules. Not to mention down the shore.

[sweetbmxrider]

Still no power in Belmar. Drove through Bay Head after getting through the national guard check point for towing purposes, its a war zone. They are only starting to let people get into theirs homes south of there like Lavalette, LBI, etc. so just be god damn grateful you have a roof over your head. If you need to have power, get a generator and count your blessings.

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

Got power back at home last night, but not all of town has it. Down here in Forked River, I've seen power everywhere - I'm helping around the general area this weekend so I'll be scoping it out.

[Featherburner]

My inlaws house on LBI has power and water but no gas so, they can't stay at their house. They are there now starting the cleanup.

[The_Bishop]

My power lines (from pole to house) are still semi-broken. The two hot legs are intact, but the neutral leg is broken. That means I can run some lights, not much else. Anything else causes voltage sags/spikes all over the house. Oh, yeah... The power lines laying on my lawn, that are energized... Not dangerous at all, right? It's getting old, and getting non-stop excuses from JCP&L is getting equally old. According to their outage map, however, Independence is 100% restored. I must be delusional.

[sweetbmxrider]

You should be happy they didn't cut the lines like they did to most homes.

[The_Bishop]

Not sure how much different that would be from now? Only reason they haven't dealt with my lines is that my house is situated above the roadway by a good 20-25 feet. So while the energized wires make the front of my house a hazardous place to be, they're not affecting the traffic.

What pisses me off is that this is a 20 minute repair. Re-attach the neutral wire (which also serves as the tension wire to keep the lines up), re-connect it to the wire hanging out of the weatherhead. It'll take more time to put the bucket up than it would to fix it. If I had any idea it was going to take this long, when the power was still down I would have made the repair myself. I'm tired of the 'camping in my own living room' feeling. It's time for the upper management types to pull their heads out so the boots on the ground can get the job done. I've spoken to a few of the repair crews. They spend *way* too much time waiting for work orders, sitting idle for an hour at a time waiting to be told where to go next. What's going on now is a classic example of leadership failure.