If the senator really wants to make a difference, he should sign, sponsor and promote the petition to bury the power lines:
http://www.change.org/petitions/governor-chris-christie-bury-the-power-lines-in-new-jersey

How much of an increase are you willing to pay to bury the power lines? Cost today is about $760,000 per mile.

I would rather just auction off the huge trees that cause the problem and limit the kind of new trees that can be planted. Only small trees should be allowed to be planted near power lines. This will save money and lower our taxes.

The state should partner with big companies like Verizon, Cablevision, Comcast, Google Fiber, etc. to install their fiber-optic lines underground so they can offer services throughout the state and share in the cost of running the underground power lines.

Try and remember, ultimately any fines, or other demands placed on the power companies, gas stations, or grocery stores end up being paid for 100% by us the consumer. To the best of my knowledge, power companies, gas stations, and grocery stores can’t print money. All they can do is collect it from us!

All these weeks later after the power went out we are now hearing from our state representatives about the restoration efforts. I heard and saw very little from them, as people as were struggling in the dark, to push the utilities companies to do better. Where is the Board of Public Utilities in all this who regulate them? Last year many of us lost power for a week. The state said they would hold the utilities more accountable. Well, they clearly did not. And it's not just north jersey. Look what the people of Long Island are going through and LIPA is under fire from the state and local government in new york. One of the ways to assess why things in government happen or don't is to "follow the money". When you do, in this case, you will see years of political contributions in the thousands of dollars from Jcpl and their parent company First Energy to political candidates and state legislators and political parties across the state and right here in north jersey. Including major contributions they made to political parties this year and last. This is why and how politics usually gets in the way of good government and the interests of the people.

I am devastated by the loss of all these magnificent trees. Our forests and landscapes have been changed forever. It is sad to drive around and see the carnage.

I don't think cutting down more or planting only small trees is the answer. Also, underground lines are not necessarily fail safe either. The power companies are supposed to maintain a clearance from their lines. To my knowledge after Irene came through certain town councils did push for this. The power companies need to be responsible on their end. In this area though there are so many trees. It seems an impossible task to keep them all clear of lines.

If you don't want trees, live in the city.

This was an unfortunate event. It was made worse by the lack of response to the inland areas. Who's fault that is, may lie across many hands.

I think requiring generators at certain facilities makes absolute sense. Our police department was without power. That makes no sense at all to me. Gas stations should always be able to pump gas. This also added to much of the angst experienced.

I also wholeheartedly support stricter penalties for those who break and enter for their own gain. These people are total low-lifes and should be treated as such.

Our part of Route 22 had many break-ins. This is inexcusable.

I live in Green Brook and there are many areas for correction so there is no next time.

The sad reality is that this will all largely be forgotten, similar to all of the storms -- and far more severe ones -- that have occured in the past.

Its all fresh in our minds now, and we are bustling with the 'fix this' and 'never again' energy -- but it will dissipate in the months to come.....

Until the next storm.

This is apparently the biggest storm to hit this area directly in the last hundred years. We've been relatively spoiled by our relative immunity to natural disasters. People and businesses need to make their own preparations for the most part. Expectations of retro-burying cables and wholesale tree removal are unrealistic. In the not too likely prospect of a repeat of of this scenario in the near future, a lot of the problem trees are already gone. People, businesses, and municipalities should learn some lessons from this event and act proactively and prudently and not expect somebody else to foot the bill...

Lets have the 1% pay for it.

I think that utility companies should ensure their applicable service is being delivered at all times.

I think it is a great idea to mandate gas station have generators powerful enough to maintain service. I think to blame power companies without any specifics and details given the magnitude of Sandy's destructive forces is unreasonable. This is unprecedented so there is really no way to "reason" what is reasonable level of preparedness by the power companies. One thing for sure, though, something I have said repeatedly, is the strong need to cut down any trees that can potentially topple into power lines. Between being environmentally sensitive and dying of cold exposure due to lack of heat from power loss, the choice should be quite simple. We need to explore ways that can afford the town to clear all the trees. Sandy did a bunch for us already, the rest is on us!

Some good points here.

Another thing to keep in mind is perspective. Over the last, say, 3 years how many days of power has an individual home lost? Maybe 18 days roughly (?) and thats at the high end.

Thats still a success rate of about 99.98%

How many billions do we want to really pay to get that number closer to 100% ?

I think that this entire episode boils down to lack of individual preparedness. To blame the utility for lack of power in the aftermath of a storm of this magnitude is fairly ridiculous. All in, I'd say that a 1-2 week turnaround on restoring power is pretty goddamn good. Perhaps if folks bit the bullet and bought generators, many of which you can get for the price of your flatscreen, or your annual netflix memberships, this wouldn;t be such a burden.

If only we could harness the hot-air-haymaking of weak minded politicians in an outage!

"apocalyptic" ? Please.

Require this, require that, who will end up paying the increased cost of all these requirements?

I know who.

Why not assume self-reliance for most houses. Buy your own stand-by generators fueled by natural gas where that fuel source is available, and liq propane in other areas. The cost of WHOLE HOUSE ELECTRIC stand-by is about $9 to $10,000 depending on house size.

My wife and I drove around the sunday before the storm, and I was able to accurately predict more than a few of the trees on East Valley Brook which would come down and take out power lines. No, I am not psychic, but when they are still leaning on the wires since Irene hit, it wasn't too hard to guess. I am also just waiting for that 3 foot in diameter limb that crosses 517 between E. Valley Brook and the dog park to come down and take down the wires and potentially smush a car. Either bury the lines or cut down any tree capable of reaching the lines. Tax breaks either local, state, or federal to those burdened by the cost to do so. Or, don't do anything, and hold private property owners (via their insurance companies) liable if their tree they hold so dear damages the power lines, thus denying the public access to electricity. However, I have seen this rodeo before, so nothing will get done, and we'll all be complaining again in a few years.

I can't stand when these politicians get tough after the fact. All of it is posturing for re-election.

Will they be allowed to raise rates?

I find it ridiculous that they are considering increasing penalties. Does anybody think the money is going to come out of some CEO's pocket? No, it will come out of our pockets because they will just raise the rates to cover the cost of the penalties. I would suggest that the power company executives homes not have their power restored until everybody else's is restored but that's really not fair to their family members. I don't think there is really anything we can do to get them to improve their service.

We can give everyone a back up generator cheaper than we can bury lines,

Smart Grid Technology using transistors and capacitors will replace the antiquated pole and wire systems one day. Think of it as WiFi Electric.
Not bad when you consider PSE &G produces roughly 5 million pounds of toxic chemicals that include manganese chromium, nickel componds, sulfuric and hydrochloric acid annually- something the EPA doesn't want anyone to know about.

Rumana and Otoole are lawyers why haven't they filed a class action law suit to revoke the Wayne Franchise of JCP& L and compensate JCP&L's customers for their economic loss?

If the JCP&L stockholders had to compensate the aggrieved customers for lost food, lost work, temporary shelters...then the almighty dollar would help assure JCP&L's customers get appropriate level of emergency response.

Let’s see if the politicians we pay to represent sincerely want to protect us!

@Jacqueline Pisatowski,

You, Joanie and Bubba Jr went out to "check on your neighbors" bc as you said you are considering running for office next year. Now THAT'S the definition of pandering!

Before saying they weren't around to help, did you try calling them? I did, and they were immediately on the phone with JCP&L to find out when JCP&L would come to my neighborhood and get my power on.

You go pander to your neighbors for votes, and I'll talk to those who can actually do something to help!

Trim or remove all trees near power lines that pose substantial risk near the height of power lines. Why should a power company bear all the risk of what is on your property that poses a threat to its lines and to the community? Trees are wonderful, beautiful, and part of the character of the community, but there must be limits when the risks are so great.

Upgrade and reinforce power lines and utility poles.

Also, diseased trees need to be replaced/trimmed (if possible).

Florida has concrete telephone poles that are hurricane proof, not saying do every pole but the high voltage wire poles should be done.

All things considered - things turned out for MOST people ok. The power companies did a heck of a job and misery has been held to a minimum. JCP&L and the teams they brought in (the guys on in my area were from Iowa) did a super job and I thank them very much. Could things have been done better and more efficiently? Yes, but planning for this event was poor by nearly everyone because no one expected the extent of the storm. I see way too much negative and emotional criticism on the blog here to help much in planning for the future and any similar events. I also see way too many "what about me" sort of comments. Do you really want to rely on political or municipal resources to survive a storm? You might as well expect to win the powerball! Paying more for such services in the future is no better than buying a power ball ticket - practically the same odds of winning whether I buy a ticket or not and a waste of your money or, at best, an entertainment expense.

It is probably impossible if not cost prohibitive to maintain such a disaster ready system. Come on - this sort of pain once or twice every 100 years - not bad. Stuff happens you know.

It's too bad this is becoming the vehicle for political axes to be ground over an important life and safety issue. Seems to me that the work we should have done last year - after many of us lost power for more than a week - needs to be done this time without fail because while some may have written off last year as a once in a lifetime event, clearly that was wrong. In between the political rhetoric I've seen here there have been some useful ideas and thoughtful comments. But, Like too many issues I've seen addressed in Wayne, they get overshadowed and unduly influenced by the political posturing and motivations of political parties. What we desperately need in this town is a non partisan government that puts the people's interests and real solutions to real problems first and foremost above political party interests. If the people of Wayne want it enough it can happen.

I do think gas stations should have generators. How about the refinerys. Why were they shut down.
I think PsEG did a great job. I personally was without power for exactly one week and I honestly felt it could be longer. This storm was horrible. I give these guys credit and I feel for them as hard as they all worked. Give them some slack

Yes. I wrote to the BPU last year. Not even the courtesy of a response. There are some new commissioners who were appointed after last year's storms. They should hear from us too. I wish some enlightened legislator would introduce a bill that prohibits utilities from donating campaign cash to the political committees and parties that support the legislators who are supposed to be holding them accountable. Thousands of dollars from both JCP&L and PSE&G to both parties whose funds find their way to local candidates too. In general it's those kinds of ties and the conflicts they create that complicate real solutions and impede healthy debate a lot of the time. They handcuff the ability of elected leaders to act impartially because they are more beholden to their political interests than the public interest.

Not sure what forcing private businesses to purchase generators has to do with holding power companies accountable. Power companies have no incentive to do better. And if you think imposing fines will work, look up the word lobbyist. There is not a chance in hell of legislation like this ever passing with any teeth to it. Where were all the politicians BEFORE the storm? We all saw this coming. The Governor was on TV for a week warning us to prepare. So why didn't federal, state and local politicians demand that generators be flown in BEFORE the storm? Why no inventory of gas stations without them? Why no gasolilne trucked in from the 46 states unaffected by the storm? Come on folks, the power companies and the politicans are in bed with each other and would NEVER do anything to harm the other's interests. This is all post-storm bluster that will do NOTHING to get power restored faster in when the next storm hits. The ONLY way to get the attention of the power companies is to pull their license. Wake me up when that happens.

The money and effort are better spent on genuine perparedness plans. Who will be in charge when this stuff happens, where are the shelters, who reports street-by-street outages, where is the communication coming from, etc. My impression is that most people were able to endure 2 to 3 days without power; then it became bad. If we can get organized enough we don't need to bury lines or fine the companies.

Generators at all gas stations? Not tested or oil changed for years at a time? A few weeks ago you were calling anything like this "Job-killing government regulation of the private businesses that built America." You can't have it both ways.

Let's get the Rumana and O'Toole Hacks out of this discussion.

Is it possible for Montville to have its' own electric company like in Butler? Their electricity was restored in 2 days.