Uniondale, NY - March 13, 2017 - PSEG Long Island is preparing for the heavy snow and strong winds forecasted to hit the service territory beginning in the early hours of Tuesday morning. All of the utility’s employees and contractors are on-hand and ready to respond to any damage the snow and high winds might cause.
“PSEG Long Island takes storms of this forecasted magnitude seriously and we proactively prepare and position our restoration workforce so our crews can begin work as soon as the conditions are safe,” said John O’Connell, vice president of Transmission & Distribution at PSEG Long Island. “In addition to scheduling additional PSEG Long Island personnel and contractors to respond to outages, we have arranged for utility crews from other states to provide assistance in restoring customer outages that may result from the storm.”
In the last three years, PSEG Long Island has made significant investments to make the electric system more resilient to the effects of extreme weather conditions. From storm hardening upgrades to ongoing enhanced tree maintenance, proactive work allows the system to better withstand extreme weather.
In addition to the system upgrades, PSEG Long Island’s technology infrastructure has been enhanced, with new and better ways for its customers to stay in touch with the utility, and upgrades that make it easier for customers to report outages and receive updates:
- A mobile-friendly outage map that includes the number of customers served in the service territory and a selected area, the number impacted by an outage, as well as the estimated restoration time and the cause of the outage, if available—at outagemap.psegliny.com.
- MyAlerts, PSEG Long Island’s text message service, can be used to report and receive status updates on an outage.
o As this feature requires an account number for a one-time registration, it’s best to do it beforehand. To register, text REG to PSEGLI (773454) or visit the My Account section of the website. Once registered, to report an outage, simply text OUT to PSEGLI (773454).
Be prepared and stay safe during extreme weather:
- Save PSEG Long Island’s 24-hour Electric Service number: 1-800-490-0075
- Follow PSEG Long Island on Facebook and Twitter for updates before, during and after the storm. Remember, though, outages CANNOT be reported through social media
- Downed wires should always be considered “live”. Do not approach or drive over a downed line and do not touch anything it might be in contact with. If a wire falls on or near your car, stay inside the car, call 911, and do not get out until PSEG Long Island deenergizes the line. If you MUST get out of the vehicle because it is on fire, jump as far as possible away from the vehicle, with both feet landing on the ground at the same time, and hop or shuffle away.
- Make sure everyone in the family is prepared and knows what to do if there is an emergency. Visit here to learn about safety tips from Sesame Street, YouTube safety videos and more.
PSEG Long Island operates the Long Island Power Authority’s transmission and distribution system under a 12-year contract. PSEG Long Island is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG), a publicly traded diversified energy company with annual revenues of approximately $10.4 billion.