We are powering your lives

Charge up that device and you’re good to go, rarely worrying about whether you have the electricity you need to meet your lifestyle. At PSE&G, we know that providing safe, reliable service is key to meeting customer needs. In the last decade, we’ve invested billions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades to better serve our customers.

“We work year-round to deliver safe, reliable and resilient electric service,” said Jack Bridges, PSE&G vice president – Electric Operations. “Whether we’re using tomorrow’s smart grid technology or climbing backyard poles like we have for more than 100 years, we’re proud of our tradition of keeping the lights on. Overall, our customers experience 99.99 percent reliability.”

PSE&G’s reliability ranks among the top national utilities with more than 500,000 customers. For 18 years in a row, we’ve been named the most reliable Mid-Atlantic utility by PA Consulting. In the past three years, we’ve also made the top 10 nationally in customer reliability factors, based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers methodology.

What’s the difference?

Because outages are inconvenient and often happen during severe weather events,  customers may recall the few times they’ve lost power over the much more routine experience of having power just about every second of every day. Yet PSE&G strives for continuous improvement and there are noticeable differences as we build a smarter, stronger, more reliable grid.

You just have to look at your lights to see one major difference. It likely doesn’t happen often but when your lights flicker that’s an indication that your power has stayed on when, in the past, you would have likely experienced an outage.   

When extreme weather or other conditions cause an outage, PSE&G customers on average are restored within 70 minutes — while the national median is 100 minutes.

How are we able to keep the lights on and power your lives? Customers are at the heart of everything we do.

Energy Strong

Through programs like Energy Strong, we are modernizing our technology and raising distribution station equipment in flood-prone areas — all with an eye on maintaining reliability and enhancing the resiliency of our energy system. We’ve also made it easier for customers to do business with us and stay connected during storms and other events.

Under the next phase of Energy Strong, currently underway, we’re installing re-closers and other smart devices that can reduce the number of customers affected by half when a fault occurs. According to Ed Gray, director of PSE&G’s Electric & Gas Asset Strategy team, “The Energy Strong program is fundamentally changing the design of our system and we expect it to drive a 15% improvement in System Average Interruption Frequency Index,” which means fewer outages.

Powering Progress

We also actively trim and inspect trees every year, relying upon our certified arborists to plan environmentally healthy options, as falling branches and trees are  a top cause of customer outages.

Also in the works, we’ve embarked on new initiatives to our Powering Progress vision of the future. PSE&G wants to help you use less energy, ensure the energy you use is cleaner and deliver it to you more reliably and resiliently than ever.

Director of Emergency Management Paul Toscarelli, who coordinates PSE&G’s storm preparation and response, said: “Everything we’re doing now to enhance our electric system is a building block for the utility of the future. We have a proud, 116-year tradition of reliability that we intend to continue well into the future.”