Thursday, April 11, 2013
Customers told their service will be shut off if they don't pay off their account balance using a Green Dot MoneyPak card. Scammers are increasingly targeting small business owners
PSE&G is urging customers to be on the alert for a new payment scam, the company announced Thursday. A customer receives a phone call from someone telling them they need to schedule a meter replacement but that the work can’t be done until the customer pays their balance off using a Green Dot MoneyPak prepaid card. Customers are advised that if they do not call back and provide the MoneyPak information, the meter replacement will not be scheduled and service will be shut off. When customers provide the MoneyPak number, the scammer transfers the funds onto a prepaid card and cashes it in at an ATM. Customers aren’t aware they’ve been scammed until they realize no one is coming to replace their meter. Scammers have been targeting small …
Friday, March 22, 2013
State wants specifics about proposed storm-related upgrades and protections before giving go-ahead
The state wants Public Service Electric & Gas to spend ratepayer money to modernize its electric and gas systems, but is not ready to write a blank check allowing the utility to spend $4 billion over the next 10 years to cover those costs. During its monthly meeting in Trenton yesterday, the state Board of Public Utilities said it wants a lot more information about the spending program filed last month by the state’s largest utility before acting on the proposal. Instead, the BPU approved a couple of separate proceedings to examine how utilities will recover costs from Hurricane Sandy and other storms, as well as what is needed to enact other expensive measures to prevent outages caused by extreme weather in the future. Opponents of the …
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Ralph LaRossa talk to NJ Spotlight about what the nearly $4 billion in improvements will mean to customers.
After Hurricane Sandy left millions of PSE&G customers in the dark, the utility company hasannounced plans to spend nearly $4 billion to upgrade its systems. PSE&G President and COO Ralph LaRossa told NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider that the upgrades will provide the utility with better information, allowing for faster repairs and better communication with customers. He also said because of the timing, it won’t cost customers more money in their bills. “We filed with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities for $3.9 billion of investment that we’ll make over a 10-year time frame. And in addition to that, there’s about $1.5 billion that we need to make on a transmission system to upgrade those facilities. And that we’ll be filing …
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Individuals should be wary of someone calling from the "disconnect collection department."
Public Service Electric & Gas is alerting its customers to a scam involving pre-paid debt cards. A Spanish-speaking individual pretending to be a PSE&G employee will call a customer saying they work for the company’s “disconnect collection department,” the company said in a press release Tuesday. The person tells the customer that they have an overdue balance and their service will be shut off that day unless they pay their balance using a prepaid debit card. Customers are told to purchase a Green Dot Money Pak card and put a balance on it and provide the cashier with the phone number of the person who called them. After the customer provides PSE&G with the card number, the scammer transfers the funds to a prepaid card and cashes it in at …
Friday, February 8, 2013
Utility company also using Twitter to communicate with customers.
PSE&G will provide customers with information about estimated restoration times via its website should power be lost. To report downed trees or power outages, customers should call PSE&G 800-436-PSEG and speak with a customer service representative. To view the latest outage information visit PSE&G's outage map. Residents can also follow PSE&G on Twitter at PSEGNews. — Have a question or news tip? Contact editor Daniel Hubbard at Daniel.Hubbard@patch.com or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Officials, residents blasted the utility company in wake of Superstorm Sandy.
The town’s complaint against Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) will be filed with the state Board of Public Utilities within a few days. Mayor Chris Vergano has spearheaded an effort to have the BPU revoke the utility company’s license to sell power to Wayne residents since Tropical Storm Sandy. “This is going to be a long journey for us,” Vergano said a council meeting a few days ago. JCP&L provides service to only a few thousand residents, mostly on and near Black Oak Ridge Road. PSE&G provides power to the rest of the town. Thousands of residents were without power for days after Sandy made landfall in November. Some were without heat or hot water for nearly two weeks. Officials created an online petition for residents to sign in …
Monday, November 5, 2012
PSE&G and JCP&L provide updated restoration information.
There are still more than 1,200 Jersey Central Power & Light customers in town who are without power. That figure, about 40 percent of JCP&L’s customer base in Wayne, is the latest posted on the power company’s outage map. The utility company services about 3,000 Wayne customers. PSE&G reports that up to 2,000 people in town are still without power. PSE&G provides power to approximately 88 percent of Wayne. PSE&G is planning on restoring power to a few hundred people a day based on estimates posted online by the utility company. PSE&G has repeatedly said that it expects to have power completely restored to its customers by Friday, Nov. 9. — Have a question or news tip? Contact editor Daniel Hubbard at Daniel.Hubbard@patch.com or find us on…
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Nearly 2,800 PSE&G customers still have no power. JCP&L customers estimates power will be restored by Wednesday.
Although progress has been made, thousands of people in Wayne are still without power. PSE&G estimates that nearly 2,800 residents are still without power Sunday afternoon, about 28 percent of customers. Parts of the Packanack Lake neighborhood were still without power. Residents reported that homes on the Farmingdale Road side of Black Oak Ridge Road were still without power. The Lions Head Lake section of town was without power. “There are two trees down on Colfax Road and Linden Road still has a tree lying across it,” said Lions Head resident Claire Furber. “They told us that the best estimate is that we’ll have it back by Thursday or Friday.” About 85 percent of residents receive their power from PSE&G. Jersey Central Power & Light (…
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Instead of starting work on $790 million project before getting final approval, how about clearing trees along power lines?
Construction has begun on Public Service Electric and Gas Co.'s transmission line upgrade through Northwest New Jersey. That would seem to be slightly premature, as the National Park Service still technically has not given final approval for the work—upgrading the existing 230-kilovolt transmission line for about 45 miles, adding 500 kilovolts onto towers that would be as tall as 195 feet in some cases. The park service's approval is only for its property, but it is still critical, given the line runs smack through the Delaware Water Gap. And while the NPS won't make a final decision for at least a month after releasing its environmental impact statement—expected sometime this month—its approval appears to be a given. Still, it has not …
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Legislation sponsored by Governor Christie means PSE&G could be fined up to $25,000 a day for failing to adhere to their own service and communications plans during emergencies.
Gov. Chris Christie wants utility companies held accountable for their response to emergencies like Tropical Storm Irene. The Reliability, Preparedness, and Storm Response Act of 2012 would empower state regulators to levy hefty fines against utility companies who don't follow their own response regulations. The legislation raises potential administrative penalties against companies from $100 to $25,000 per daily assessment. Companies would be barred from passing any fines onto customers, Christie said in a statement. The announcement comes on the heels of a report released Wednesday by the Board of Public Utilities (BPU). The BPU investigated several New Jersey Utility Provides to determine how they responded during recent emergencies, …
Robert Stoops
10:08 pm on Friday, April 19, 2013
These scams are definitely obvious! Why would a utility company rep call and demand customers to pay through greendot moneypak cards when in the first place, the customers already have a payment method on their accounts with the utility company. If i get a call like that, I'd hang up and report the scam to http://www.callercenter.com to raise a warning to others. more ›