Village Residents Say PSE&G Leaving Them In The Dark

The street light in front of Russ Titus’ home on Van Buren Street goes out on a yearly basis.

This year, when the light went out in early January, he had to report it at least three times before it was fixed.

Approximately 260 street lights were reported to PSE&G by the village from January through June, according to a report by the Village Division of Engineering. Of those 260, at least 27 were repeat or multiple requests, meaning the light either malfunctioned shortly after it was fixed, or never got fixed initially.

“One of the problems is that when [the light] goes out, my experience has been you are without it for at least a month, which is not acceptable,” Titus said.

Problems with street lights date back to at least 2004, when one councilman counted 49 street lights out between Broad Street and Memorial Park at Van Neste Square. A PSE&G representative attended a village council meeting in 2007, after hearing of complaints that seven lights in a row were out on S. Broad Street.

“It’s an ongoing problem,” Mayor Keith Killion said, adding that Ridgewood "is trying to speed up the process [to get them fixed].”

In an email to Patch, Bonnie Sheppard, a PSE&G spokeswoman, said that 700 induction flourescant lights, which have a longer life span than older mercury vapor lights, have been installed in Ridgewood to replace the older lights.

Shepperd said she is unaware of the company having any difficulty regarding the repair of street lights in Ridgewood. As of July 8, the company has received only one open request this month for a repair, she said.

The engineering department has noticed a better response by PSE&G in the last few years, and now has a direct contact to call when the department sees a light go unattended for an extended period of time after a report, said Chris Rutishauser, Village Engineer.

“We try to get [PSE&G] to be as responsible as possible,” Rutishauser said. “Sometimes PS&EG is, and sometimes, we think they’re not.”

Problems with street lights range anywhere from lights that are not working, to lights that flicker, to lights that are on during the day rather than at night.

No matter what the issue, a malfunctioning street light can compromise safety, Killion said.

In the past year, at least two accidents–one on Godwin Avenue where a teenage boy suffered serious injuries; the other, a hit-and-run on Oak and Franklin–featured reports of light outages at the intersections, though neither have been cited as being the direct cause of the accidents.

“It’s a quality of life issue, it’s a safety issue,” Rutishauser said. “Especially now that the weather is nice, a lot of people are out on the sidewalks walking at night. And when the street lights are out, it does make it harder for roaders to see those pedestrians crossing the street. So we try to make sure everything works.”

The village does not employ a full-time position to check the status of street lights, and relies largely on residents to report outages. When a resident calls the engineering department about a malfunctioning street light, the department fills out a report and faxes it to PSE&G.

“The older technology, the older-styled lights are more problematic,” Rutishauser said. “As PSE&G upgrades those, hopefully the amount of outage reports will drop. But for [PSE&G], it’s also time and money invested.”

Requests to update bulbs are not always granted. This year, Titus suggested PSE&G replace the uncovered light in front of his house with a light that had a cover, thinking the lack of cover contributed to the high outage frequency of the light.

“I thought maybe [PSE&G] was going to upgrade the light and it would be worth the wait if it was upgraded,” Titus said. “But in reality they just replaced the bulb. They didn’t change the lamp or make any improvements.”

PSE&G is periodically replacing some lights with more energy efficient lights that use less wattage, Rutishauser said.

The new ‘green’ fixtures are brighter, last four times longer and cost less to operate than older, existing models of street lights, Shepperd said. Shephard did not say how many older, mercury vapor lights remain.

The village pays a flat monthly fee to PSE&G for both energy usage and maintenance, Rutishauser said, so when lights are left on 24/7, the village is not paying for that mistake.

However, when lights are not working at all, it costs the village money, Killion said.

“If a lot of lights are out, we’re being charged for those," regardless of whether they are on or off, Killion said.

Residents can report street light outages by calling the Village Engineering Department at (201) 670-5500 x238. The Village Engineering Department asks that residents provide the pole numbers found on metal bands, as well as the nearest street address.