The Bergen County Homes Blog

  In the wake of last year’s early winter storm in October  that had a devastating impact on Bergen County and throughout the New York City area and beyond, Public Service Electric and Gas has begun a year long effort to prune trees in Bergen County so that the next major storm won’t have the same resul. 

Bergen County is known for it’s foliage – our streets are often lined with magnificent towering trees reaching enormous heights.  Many of these trees have limbs perilously close to electrical wires and when winter storms come, they snap and break tearing down those wires creating havoc for the nearby residents.  Last October 29th Bergen County was brought to a standstill as power, phone and cable lines were out everywhere and streets were made impassable due to the overwhelming number of trees and branches that fell.

PSE&G spokeswoman Bonnie Sheppard said that all pruning work should be completed in the following towns by the end of April: Bergenfield, Bogota, Cliffside Park, Dumont, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Fairview, Haworth, Fort Lee, Leonia, Little Ferry, New Milford, Oradell, Palisades Park, Paramus, Ridgefield, Ridgefield Park, River Edge, Teaneck and Tenafly.

This is welcome news for Bergen County residents some of whom were without power last October for one week.  No one wants a repetition of last year’s Halloween snowstorm.

One of the special advantages of living in Bergen County, at least from my point of view, is our gas and electric service utility – Public Service Electric and Gas.  Go to their website at http://www.pseg.com where you’ll find excellent information and their terrific Worry Free Contract system.

PSE&G has very reasonably priced maintenance contracts on your gas and electric heating, air conditioning and appliances that I always recommend to my clients.  One of the best values you can find in Bergen County when you buy a house is their Worry Free Contracts and especially their gas furnace maintenance program which only costs $5.90 per month for parts and labor.  Go to their Residential Worry Free Contract Enrollment and scroll down the page toward the bottom where you can see the a la carte menu or you can use the bundled options at the top of the page.  The cost is billed monthly on your utility bill which makes this affordable service even easier to handle. 

It just makes sense, especially now that the heating season is almost here, to get yourself protected.  I always recommend to my clients who have gas furnaces in their home that they at least get this coverage.  It’s simply the best deal around at an annual cost of $70.80 for parts and labor with no deductibles. 

When you buy a home the last thing you need is an unexpected bill for a furnace repair – at $5.90 per month you’ll have peace of mind.  Trust me – it can happen any time.  Years ago I had a 3 year old furnace that stopped working – it needed a new circulator pump.  PSE&G came in a few hours and replaced it.  No problems after that and it was well worth the $5.90 bill that month!