Nov 1 (Reuters) - Public Service Enterprise Group Inc , the top utility in New Jersey, said its infrastructure had suffered severe damage and it was currently unable to estimate its losses from superstorm Sandy but they would be material.
PSEG said the damage to its transmission and distribution systems lead to the worst outage in the company's history, with 1.5 million customers without power.
The company services 2.2 million electric customers and 1.8 million gas customers across New Jersey.
Some generation infrastructure was also damaged in northern New Jersey and a large number of substations along the Passaic, Raritan and Hudson rivers were flooded, the company said.
"The magnitude of the flooding in contiguous areas is unprecedented," the company said in a statement reporting its third-quarter earnings.
PSEG said it was working to minimize the length of time its customers are without electric or gas service.
The company said on Wednesday that it would take seven to ten days to restore full power. It said that it had restored electricity to about 818,000 customers, while about 882,000 customers were without power.
Towns along the New Jersey shore took much of the brunt of Superstorm Sandy, which rampaged through the U.S. Northeast on Monday night. Homes were flooded, boardwalks washed away, gas mains ruptured and power supplies were crippled.
PSEG's third-quarter net income rose to ${esc.dollar}347 million, or 68 cents per share, from ${esc.dollar}294 million, or 58 cents per share, a year earlier.
PSEG's shares closed at ${esc.dollar}32.04 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
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