Freeholders Demand Refunds For Customers After Isaias Outages

CHATHAM, NJ – The Morris County Board of Freeholders is demanding the Jersey Central Power & Light refund customers who experienced extended power outages following Tropical Storm Isaias in the beginning of August.

The Board is also demanding the utility company reimburse customers of any food and medicine that spoiled during the power outages.

New Jersey was hit by the storm on Aug. 4, and 500,000 customers lost power, including 130,000 in Morris County. According to the Board of Freeholders, 30,000 of those in Morris County did not have power restored for five days after the storm.

"The duration of that outage was not only unacceptable, according to the freeholder resolution, but it also was potentially life-threatening to people requiring power for medical reasons," the Board said in a letter.

"This is about the corporation and those who run it, not the line crews who literally risked their own safety when JCP&L recruited them to deal with downed power lines and storm-damaged trees," said Freeholder Tayfun Selen in a prepared statement.