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How to Get Reimbursed for Spoiled Food or Medicine from Con Edison, O&R, PSE&G

POSTED BY
Evelyn Kanter

how to get reimbursed by con edison for spoiled food or medicineReminder that If you lost power for more than 12 hours in the recent storm, you may be entitled to up to $500 or more from Con Edison and other Tri-State utilities to reimburse you for spoiled food or medicine. 

Some customers were without power for more than a week after Tropical Storm Isiais roared through NYC and the Tri-State area, ripping down trees and power lines along the way early in August.
 
Con Edison will reimburse customers up to $515 for food spoilage due to lack of refrigeration if the power outage lasted more than 12 hours within a 24-hour period.
 
Orange and Rockland Utilities is offering up to $540 for affected customers it serves in Westchester, Rockland and parts of New Jersey.
 
Both utilities also are offering up to $10,000 or more for commercial customers, such as restaurants, supermarkets and our beloved neighborhood bodegas.
 
You have 30 days from the date of the storm to file your claim.
 
PSE&G is offering up to $250 food and up to $300 for medications for residential customers New Jersey, and only for customers who were without power for 72 hours or more.  You have until Sept. 16 to file a claim.
 

Reimbursement Claim Requirements

 
Con Ed requires claims for food up to $225 must include an itemized list.
 
Claims for food for more than $225 must include an itemized list AND proof of loss. That means store receipts to prove what you purchased and when.  Hopefully, you kept all those receipts.
 
PSE&G requires an itemized list for claims up to $150 and an itemized list plus proof of loss for more than $150.
 
So you’ll have to snap a photo of that steak you purchased three months for the freezer, when we were all stocking up for the COVID-19 lockdown, to prove it wasn’t eaten before the storm. 
 
Also not so easy if you are conserving battery power for emergency phone calls to family – and to Con Ed to find out when power will be restored.

Customers may also claim spoiled prescription medicine with an itemized list and proof of loss including a pharmacy prescription label or a pharmacy receipt identifying the medicine.

Reimbursement of prescription medicine is separate from the $515 maximum for spoiled food.

Customers have 30 days to submit a claim. 

There is no word from Con Edison or O&R how long it will take after that to actually re-imburse you.

Download the Con Edison re-imbursement form here.

Download the O&R re-imbursement form here

Download the PSE&G re-imbursement form here.

Con Edison requires you to download, print out and mail in the reimbursement form –  a bit complicated if you don’t have electricity to use your computer or printer.

O&R allows you file a claim by email – also complicated if you do not have electricity to power up your desktop, laptop or tablet.

Also unfortunately, the Con Edison claim form says claims for losses caused by outtages caused by storms or other conditions beyond our control will not be paid.

And the O&R claim form says it is not responsible for

  • Weather-related conditions (e.g. ice, wind, lightning) and animal contacts (e.g. squirrels & birds)
  • Equipment failure
  • Damage to O&R / Rockland Electric equipment by others
  • Accidents

Good luck!

NYCOTC Editor Evelyn Kanter is a longtime consumer rights journalist – a former consumer reporter for WCBS Newsradio 88 and for WABC-TV Eyewitness News.

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