Let me get this straight. Local elected officials are "disgusted" with JCP&L's response. Wagging their fingers and scolding a monolithic power company with a monopoly on service. As a Chatham resident who had power restored late Monday night, only to have it cut off again on Tuesday without notice, I have a suggestion for angry local officials; stop whining or complaining to Governor Christie (one of the very first to get power restored) and wake up the fact that JCP&L has absolutely no incentive whatsoever to restore power more quickly. What exactly is the Mayor's or the Governor's recourse if they take their swee time? What are the consequences for lousy service, poor planning and slow response times? It's like yelling at the weather. None of us have any control over what JCP&L does. Oh wait - turns out we do. Consumer energy in NJ is no longer regulated. So once you get your power back, get on line or on the phone and switch your service to another company. Money is the only language they understand and if the thousands of Chatham residents currently upset wtih JCP&L actually DID SOMETHING about it, we might find a more urgent response next time a storm rolls in. For more go to this site:
http://www.njelectricrates.com/
In the meantime, it would be great to see our elected officials spending their time on issues they can control or at least taking the time to learn the difference.

It's appropriate for elected officials to pressure JCP&L to the fullest extent possible, and to publicize the lack of response. Bad press does have an impact, and JCP&L deserves plenty of it. Agree that residents should look at alternative electric providers - JCP&L is the poster child for the lumbering, unresponsive monopoly staffed by well-paid people who couldn't care less unless it was their house that had no power.

Switching service to another provider, will not help the situation. JCP&L will remain responsible for providing maintenance, customer services, and billing for the transmission and distribution of your electricity you may only change your electricity generator. Downed power lines will ALWAYS have to be fixed by JCP&L. That part of the monoply has not changed. As frustrating as it is there is nothing we can do about it

1 - Bad press has no impact. If it did the response would be far better as the same bad press was everywhere after Irene.
2 - Changing providers won't change who comes to fix the downed lines, but it will mean a provider other than JCP&L gets your money. Trust me, if even half the residents who lost power switched providers next week it would get the attention of JCP&L far more effectively that a thousand "disgusted" mayors and governors who are often in on the deals that lead to the monopolies in the first place.
See Bank of America which just dropped the $5 per month ATM fee after thousands of people closed their accounts.

Kick JCP&L out of Chatham. Robbinsville is doing this and replacing them with PSE&G as well as filing a complaint for $95,000. Madison has their own electric utility, they fully restored power on Monday. Madison restored power within 24 hours after hurricane Irene. We have had poor service from JCP&L for a long time, it will not change. It's time to take aggressive action and fix the problem.

Why hasn't the National Guard been deployed to cut limbs freeing up the utlilities to restore power? Is it possible that our mad and disgusted public officials have also failed in their response? Hurricane Irene had over a week lead time to prepare, it is clear that our elected officials have not prepared an adequate emergency response for a more sudden event like this. The Governor has been MIA. Day 5 before Public Transportation joins the game? Pathetic.

Elected officials are disgusted? Looks like some elected officials trying to deflect blame away from themselves and onto JCP&L. They have known all along that JCP&L is using contracted workers from as far away as Ohio. Who is responsible for outsourcing our energy in Chatham? That right! Our elected officials. So I say vote all these bums out of office in the next election. Money may talk, but elections have consequences. Dump Vaughn/Hagner/Brower/Gallop!

Some people have this thing called a JOB that tends to cut into all the free time that we would normally have to go outside with our chainsaws and hack at massive downed trees.

You can register a complaint against JCP&L with the Board of Public Utilities. http://www.nj.gov/bpu/

Don't know how good that will do, but it's a start. The more people who file official complaints, the more likely Governor Christie will have to address the situation.

Would you like some cheese with that whine?
Let's get past this!

easy to say if you have power. We're on day 6 without power and heat, my 6 year old has had a fever since Friday night, all the food in our refrigerator and freezer is ruined and there is not a repair truck in sight. And we're one of 8 houses without power on the street.

Half of our street is restored Monday night up until where the Fire Department is. Unfortunately, we are few houses away from Fire Department and JCP&L decided to stop working on the rest of our street because we are not a priority and Fire Department is. At least, FD could have offered shelter, have hot shower, etc. to the rest of the family who doesn't have power. I have a 1 year old and already sick and taking antibiotics because of all this.

Since to power outage I have seen landscaper trucks, tree trucks and utility trucks driving past fallen trees that extend out into the street causing traffic issues. These people drive by and in some cases over lawns to get around it. Not one stopped and cut and pull to the side the tree or branches. That really is piss poor. If I had a chain saw I would have done it myself. People we all live together. I understand your Union says don't touch - I tell you now - screw the union and be human.

@bs and bandannaman...Are you going to tell all those parents out there with sick kids and no power "to stop whining" now? No, I didn't think so. On a positive note, I just spoke with the DPW(an actual person answered) and he said they would be picking up all branches and limbs in the township if we leave them curbside. He couldn't guarantee when they'd get picked up, but they'd pick them up. So drag those branches out there, folks! Let the town do their job. One less thing for us to do. Hope everyone gets power soon.

Though I don't live in Chatham, JCPL offers incredibly poor service throughout Central Jersey. I have created a site, named http://turnoffjcpl.com and hope that you will leave your comments and experiences with the company. Thanks.

mayor v.nelson vaughan is a joke where has our dpw been ,did he tell them to take the week off after there lack luster show on saturday when there were out with no plows and no salters,or did chatham run out of money after the brick pavers and cobble stone curbs vaughan thought was a good idea.JCP&L would have done a better job if they could get down our streets but they were blocked by downed trees good job VAUGHAN

I've said before and I'll say it again...Time to vote these bums out of office! Bye-Bye to Hagner/Vaughan/Brower/Gallop. We need new leadership in the Chathams.

I find it upsetting that the only comminication I have been receiving from Nicole Hagner regarding the situation in Chatham is in the mail regarding her upcoming campaign. I would much rather be reading updates of when my power might be restored instead of her political aspirations. Once Nicole and the township commitee has shown me that they handle township problems, I would gladly support them in upcoming elections.

OK, so a bit of a different billing issue, but still a large issue.
I have a photo voltaic solar system, so I produce electricity that can go back to the grid and I am suppose to get a credit for it. Basically sometimes I consume electricity from the grid and I get billed for it and sometimes I produce an excess of my consumption and I get a credit for it (although not at the same rate). I have what is called a time of day bi-directional meter. The problem is that there are more the four meter reading categories on the bill and it is extremely confusing. As someone said to me, they couldn't make it more confusing if they tried.
My bills have been astronomical. I have a small three bed room ranch and my bills have been in excess of $ 800.00 at times. And thats with an expensive solar system that produces electricity.
Months and years of complaining have gotten nowhere. Finger pointing between solar installer and JCP&L, with me in the middle paying these bills. I have come to the conclusion that they are not crediting me for my excess because of the numerous meter reading categories and perhaps even charging me for what should be a credit.
I finally demanded that they install a simpler meter with just two categories and voila my bills are more than cut in half, Problem is they won't admit to any mistake or over charge for all those past bills.
My question is has anyone else had a similar problem?