JCP&L Addresses Ongoing Power Outages, Public Communication

Last year’s Hurricane Irene left residents across the state without power for days, resulting in widespread criticism for Jersey Central Power and Lighting’s lack of communication and seemingly delayed response. According to Gerry Riccardi, area manager for JCP&L, the company heard these complaints “loud and clear.”

Riccardi, along with JCP&L engineer Harvey Lockley, addressed these issues at the Freehold Borough Council meeting Monday evening. The governing body passed a resolution earlier this year asking JCP&L to review the power infrastructure throughout the borough.

Riccardi stressed the measures JCP&L is taking to become more available to the public, such as increasing use of social media, regular visits to council meetings and creating a more accessible website.

“I just want to congratulate you on your part for doing that,” Mayor J. Nolan Higgins told Riccardi and Lockley, referencing JCP&L’s new webpage, which not only allows the public to view the number of known power outages in their individual towns, but also to report new ones.  

Riccardo urged residents to alert JCP&L to outages. “You need to call in your power outages,” Riccardi said. “People think that we have this big board with a light on it that shows everybody’s individual houses, and we do not.”

Higgins recognized that the company has made efforts. “I had the opportunity to visit the site where we lost power, and there was a supervisor on scene and there were trucks there,” he said. “It’s at least reassuring to neighbors that [JCP&L] is on scene.”

Lockley added that JCP&L is also looking to improve the town’s infrastructure, such as repairing damage to local circuits. However, he also said that the majority of power outages are caused by trees.

Some council members were critical of this assessment. Council President Sharon Shutzer pointed out that although there is a large amount of trees all over the borough, one area of town is far more affected by power outages. “There is something going on there that needs to be addressed,” Shutzer said. “It can’t just be trees… they are hit almost every time.”

Councilman George Schnurr agreed with Shutzer. “Down Center Street, from Otterson all the way to Liberty, you don’t need Hurricane Irene. They go out of power a good ten times a year maybe more,” he said. “I would like to ask you folks to maybe do an assessment of the equipment that you have there in that part of town.”

Riccardi instantly responded that an assessment had already been done and insisted that the results showed trees as the culprit (although it did not show what specific tree problems caused the power outages). “We did our research,” he said. “That’s what we found.”

At the end of the presentation council members suggested that JCP&L return for an open meeting with the public, so that residents can ask their own questions. Riccardi agreed, but repeated that residents can also call in their concerns.