Birmingham, Alabama (Platts)--8Nov2012/257 pm EST/1957 GMT

Public Service Electric & Gas is considering the changes the company would need to take to address the "new normal" in the East Coast region that includes harsher, more frequent storms than it has seen in the past, Ralph LaRossa, president, said Thursday in a news conference.

The New Jersey utility had 90,000 customers lose power after an early winter storm hit the region Wednesday, LaRossa said.

"In the past two years, we have had had two hurricanes and two major snow storms around Halloween," he said, referencing Hurricane Sandy, which hit the region on October 29, an early winter storm on the same date in 2011 and Hurricane Irene, which occurred in August 2011.

The damage from Wednesday's storm was less than it would have been had Sandy not taken down trees and taken the leaves off the trees still standing, LaRossa said. Most of the damage was to distribution circuits, but one 69 kV line to a substation also tripped, he said.

Wednesday's storm delayed by a day the estimated date the company will have all customers who lost power from Sandy back online, LaRossa said.

PSE&G now has 70,000 customers out of power as a result of Sandy and 40,000 still out of power as a result of Wednesday's snowstorm. The utility expects to have power restored to all customers by Saturday.

LaRossa did not elaborate on the changes the company is considering.

--Mary Powers, newsdesk@platts.com --Edited by Katharine Fraser, katharine_fraser@platts.com