PSE&G Plans to Reduce Outages on Forest Avenue

Forest Avenue residents may soon receive some relief from the recent intermittent power outages as Public Service Enterprise Group will continue to install new circuit protectors to the grid in the next few months.

According to a recent PSE&G study that excluded outages caused by inclement weather, there have been 32 power interruptions on the West Caldwell portion of Forest Avenue and in the area since 2008, Town Administrator and Clerk Jock Watkins said at Tuesday night's council meeting.

The particular circuit grid runs from Essex Fells, through Caldwell and into West Caldwell. Watkins said a PSE&G representative commented that, in the company's opinion, this particular area has undergone an excessive number of service interruptions. 

"I'm glad they agree," quipped Mayor Joseph Tempesta. 

Since January alone, there have been 12 disruptions—six ending momentarily, and six lasting for an extended period of time in the Forest Avenue area in West Caldwell, Watkins said.

"This has been going on for months," said Councilman Thomas O'Hern, chairman of the public works committee. "It just goes off and comes back on."

PSE&G has identified the need for additional circuit protection in that area and have begun to make improvements, Watkins said.

"They have already, to the tune of about $100,000, installed new equipment in that circuit, and they are planning to put another device in within three months," Watkins said. "They believe they've seen a reduction of incidents already."

Watkins said PSE&G hopes that with the new circuit protection, future service interruptions will be confined to where the problem originated and will not impact the entire area.

The company has also been more aggressive in cutting back trees that touch the electrical wires and cause intermittent outages, Watkins said.