Rutgers plans to compensate students living at a university apartment that has continued to have a slew of utility problems.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- Since the middle of December, Rutgers students living at the Newell Apartments have experienced repeated power outages for extended periods that have left them without lights while trying to study and without sufficient heat and hot water throughout nearly the entire winter, with students often being forced to take cold showers.
Rutgers University installed a diesel generator outside the Newell Apartments, in Biel Road, in New Brunswick, after the primary line to the apartments failed in mid-December, 2015, causing repeated power outages that students living at the apartment say have become a major inconvenience. Now, as the work to repair the main electrical line located underground that services the apartments on Biel Road, Rutgers University says it takes full responsibility and plans to reimburse the students an "inconvenience credit."
"It is our intention, in some fashion, to compensate these residents for the inconvenience they've gone through," said Antonio Calcado, senior vice president for institutional planning and operations at Rutgers University. "They deserve that, and I will make sure that will happen."
Michael Meagher, spokesman in the Rutgers Office of the President, recently sent a letter to students at the apartment, saying, "First and foremost, we recognize and apologize for the inconvenience and disruption of normal day life these residents have endured since then."
The letter continued, "Upon the completion of this work, and confirmation of proper service delivery, we will be in the process of determining an inconvenience credit."
The frustration had grown to such an extent that students created a petition on Change.org demanding the university offer such a reimbursement.
The extent to how much the university will compensate the students living at the apartment, which costs more than $8,000 for each unit per semester, is not known at this time.
"Our priority right now is to get that building back up and running, and then we'll come back" and look at that, Calcado said.
Rutgers workers are continuing to try and fix the main electrical line to the Newell Apartments on Biel Road, in New Brunswick, after the line failed in mid-December, 2015, causing repeated power outages that students living there say have become a major inconvenience. Daniel Machado, a 20-year-old Rutgers sophomore who has been living at the apartment complex since September, said the outages were frustrating when he was trying to study around finals in mid-December when the utility issues began to crop up.
"It happened during finals ... It was an inconvenience; we had to move to one of the campus centers to not be bothered," Machado recalled.
His roommate, 19-year-old Omar Morsy, a sophomore, said, "I am trying to do my homework ... (and) it is something I am struggling with right now."
Both agreed, however, that beyond the lights, not having proper hot water for nearly the entire winter was something they particularly dreaded. They would discuss how to ration the limited hot water for each shower.
"I would have to tell Daniel, 'Yo, save me some hot water,'" Morsy said, giving a bewildered chuckle. "It was that bad."
But some days, Morsy would just say, "I guess I'm not going to shower."
The problem originated when the main underground electrical line to the apartment -- which was built in the 1970s and runs completely off electricity instead of preferred natural gas -- failed. But finding the line became increasingly difficult.
"It came down to trying to find out where the failure was, and unfortunately that became more and more difficult to find because there are no longer drawings on (the apartment)," Calcado explained.
Workers have had to excavate ground around the problem area, put in a new conduit to the building, put in a new transformer and a new service panel, Calcado said.
"All of this takes time, as you can imagine," he added.
Staff brought in a generator to keep the apartment running, which now requires biweekly maintenance causing power to shut off every other Friday for a couple of hours.
Calcado said they planned to have the problem fully resolved by the end of next week.
The student petition reads, "Considering the fact that students need these amenities to complete homework, study, eat, cook, and bathe, there is no reason to charge these students with a housing bill that has not provided the basic utilities and function it pays for."
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.