They determined that a little too late. The fire consumed my entire neighborhood:(

((((Lauren))))) that's a cyber hug. Words pale in comparison to the horrors many of you have suffered. I hope you have a decent place to stay while you rebuild your home. I know many things like photo memories etc can't be replaced but TG your family is ok. I would ask friends n family for copies of pics, get copies of yearbooks etc. I already have another family staying here at the moment without a real guest room but short of a place to sleep is there anything I can do? I don't check back in the articles but my email is mamabear2my4cubs@aol.com if you need anything any of us could help with. Other than that I wish you nothing but recovery and happiness from now going forward for your entire family and neighborhood for that matter.

Just a brief note on NJNG....I got my gas bill on Friday, and was suprised to see that my "budgeted bill" of 60.00 per month rose to 90.00 - two weeks of that period when all power to my home was off and I was elsewhere. When I called to ask about the rise I was told they estimated the bill because the storm kept them from reading meters. (Hello, I live in the storm ravaged area - no surprise here). In addition, they are raising the budgets in anticipation of a very difficult winter. 50%???

Difficult Winter??? They make plenty of $$$$!! It's not going to be difficult on them, its going to he difficult on us...especially if they are DOUBLING budgets for crying out loud...THAT'S WHY PPL HAVE BUDGET PLANS!!! ...just a side note, JCP&L sent out estimated bills too, they included the time in which most of us had no power for at least a week, pretty sure their meter readers aren't doing any line work, so maybe after something like that, they should put forth a greater effort to ACTUALLY READ the meters...just sayin...

the estimated bills from both the gas and power companies is much more than a "due to the storm we can read meters". think about it for a second, their infrastructure just to a big hit and is going to cost them a bunch of money to repair. by sending out higher than normal estimated bills, this give them "quick cash in there checking account" allowing for easy money transfer for parts and labo needed to restore the infrastructure. one a total dollar amount is determined, that amount will be submitted to the fed/state/insurance for assistance trying to recoup what they dished out.

in the end no one will ever be happy, first it was crying because the power whet out for more than 10 min and no one has done anything, too its been 10 days whats the hold up, too those bastards are crooks for sending a higher than normal estimated bill. without that estimated bill, the time frame to restore services would actually take much longer.

once their insurance kicks in and they recoup the money, you account will be adjust to only pay for what you used, so next months bill might wind up being even lower than it normally is.

It makes you wonder how the sewer lines are doing.

If you lost power, sign this petition for JCP&L reparations :

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/jcpl_sandyreparations/signatures

Right now JCP&L basically is giving NO concession for the entire storm. Nice to be a monopoly. (NJNG has put forth a different attitude, but we'll see what happens when it comes to the dollars. This is why the petition is about JCP&L.)

i am in ortley, do we need to cancel JCP&L until the power is restored in our area, to our houses? someone wrote that they will not restore power to houses until an electrician certifies the boxes. thanks,

@MIssing Brick- quote: If you lost power, sign this petition for JCP&L reparations :

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/jcpl_sandyreparations/signatures
Right now JCP&L basically is giving NO concession for the entire storm. Nice to be a monopoly. (NJNG has put forth a different attitude, but we'll see what happens when it comes to the dollars. This is why the petition is about JCP&L.)
you should do your research into how utilities operate and provide services to you before you go petitioning and sueing. i know there was the no power for more than 10 min and that got people upset, but man/woman up and "adapt" to the situation at hand rather than complain. i know they sent out higher than normal "estimated"
bills during the same period, and that made people even more madder, but do you know why they did that? people paying there high estimated bills puts " quick cash in there checking account" so to speak. that in turn gives them a chance to pay for parts needed and all the labor needed to rebuild their infrastructure. if they did not go that route,many peoples power still would be out because they would not be able to pay suppliers for parts/labor..
learn how utilities operate first, than man-up and "adapt to the situation" kind of like the human kind has done since how ever they were created.
i myself had no power for 14 days in bavyille, but instead of bitch and complain, i adapted and adjusted my lifestyle for a few days, and i got through it o SHUT UP AND MAN UP!

once they get a $$ figure to submit to their insurance for the total cost to repair the infrastructure, and the next months billing cycle is an actually read that will give you a "lower" monthly bill in the next month or two.

utilities have a lot of guidelines they have to adhere by, issued from the state. as long as they were with in them your petition means nothing.
but giving the amount of outages, people should learn to drop the "i need it now/ me me me" attitude, and adopt the "these guys are busting their ass as best they can for me" attitude....

P.S. you are smart enough that know that you get billed on power that flows through you meter? right? if no power is flowing through your meter (due to power outage) than your not paying for anything, so why should they "refund" you on something you didn't pay for, let alone use?

@Random Poster...kinda sounds like you either have worked or do work for a utility company...THERE'S PLENTY OF $$ IN THEIR BANK ACCOUNTS, and they always say your bill will be adjusted, but we all know that won't happen this time...they are monopolies, so we are ALL paying THEM...no matter what the situation may be...plain and simple...the CEO of Long Islands power company stepped down, couldn't handle the hot seat...good luck to everyone with these crooks, and by the way, my family and I did man/woman up...10 days worth, and we were some of the fortunate ones...what about the people who still are not in their homes, or have lost them, should they keep manning/womaning up to cushion the pockets of these jerks???

@Rachel..... The world needs more people like yourself. It would b alot better place for our kids. I have 2 famlies with me. I was lucky enough to make it through Sandy okay, and i had converted my basement into a three bedroom apartment last year, Luckily it was still unoccupied. So im letting 2 families stay in it untill they can get back on their feet. These folks lost everything but their lives, and they are grateful for that. To all the people that extended a helping hand to their neighbors in a time of need. Thank You.

Is it only me or is King Neptune the biggest tool on TRP? Clever name. Btw, I hope someone takes those gas lines and shoves them up your pipe hole. Yes I'm on topic.

L.m.a.o....Fafa....

King Neptune needs to get a life.

We understand your frustration. Please know that NJNG redeployed all of our resources to ensure the safety of our customers in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In fact, all of our meter reading staff was assigned to the hurricane assessment and restoration effort from November 3 through November 16, which unfortunately did result in calculated bills for our customers. On November 19, the Morris and Monmouth County meter readers resumed regular meter reading. Some of our Ocean County meter readers continue to assist in storm-related activities. However, customers can always submit their actual meter reads on our website or by calling for more accurate billing.

Keep in mind that last year’s winter temperatures were far above normal, resulting in many budget plan customers receiving a credit. However, the calculation of the budget plan amount for the upcoming heating season is based on “normal” seasonal temperatures to better reflect customer usage.

At the end of the budget cycle, variances are reconciled by comparing the amount billed to the total customer budget plan payments.

We hope this clarifies things a bit and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Our meter in Baywood was turned off by NJNG after the storm, and was just turned back on Tuesday Nov 20th. I'm looking at a bill we received yesterday with zero charges for 10/15 - 11/14. We are not on an estimated plan, but I know we used the gas a little bit during that month. Maybe NJNG didn't charge any customers whose meters were turned off after the storm??? I'm sure we'll get an adjusted bill next month, but given all the confusion with all of our utilities, this was a pleasant surprise. Sorry King Neptune : ) but the bill we got from JCPL for the same timeframe, after having had no electricity for 3 weeks, was $22 higher than the previous month. Now THERE's some smoke-n-mirror accounting! Looking fwd to the refund.