Power Update: Up to 2,000 Westfield Customers Still in the Dark

As of 1:30 p.m. Monday, up to 2,000 Westfield PSE&G customers are still without power in the wake of Saturday's unseasonably early snowstorm. More than 10,000 Union County customers also are still in the dark.

The utility says 95 percent of its customers should have power restored by midnight Wednesday. As of Monday morning, PSE&G had restored power to about 70 percent of the half million customers who lost power in their territory.

Jersey Central Power & Light reported 19,000 Union County customers without power as of Monday morning.

In an update on their site, JCP&L said 283,000 New Jersey customers had no power, down from 356,000 at the height of the blackout.

In a statement, JCP&L said they anticipated that power will be restored to 95 percent of affected customers by Thursday evening, with remaining customers restored by Friday. They said that widespread damage to electrical facilities was causing the delay in power restoration. JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano said town-by-town estimated times of return would not be available until later today or Tuesday.

The Ohio-based power company said they have dispatched just under 3,000 employees to assist in storm restoration activities in the hardest-hit areas they cover across multiple states. Morano said tree damage is widespread and the accumulation of the heavy wet snow on top of trees that still had leaves led to the downed trees and nearby power lines. The unseasonably early snowstorm has left thousands of northern New Jersey residents without power and Morano said that is the big difference between the recent snow and Hurricane Irene. Irene affected outages for customers across the state, while the snowstorm was mostly concentrated in northern New Jersey.

Morano said some customers might have seen power restore and then go out again and continue in that pattern. "When we are restoring customers, it becomes necessary to take some customers out for safety reasons as we make repairs," he said. "Also, you have new outages happening as we are working; trees are still falling days after the storm."

Morano doesn't expect the outage number to rise anymore as much of the snow has melted. He said crews continue to work around the clock to restore power.

Both utility crews remind parents that if children are trick-or-treating to use extreme caution especially in areas of downed trees and power lines.

The Town of Westfield continues its cleanup after the snowstorm. Curbside branch pickup is happening all day Monday.