Marlboro Mayor Addresses JCP&L Isaias Response At Senate Hearing

MARLBORO, NJ - Did Tropical Storm Isaias leave you without power for hours, if not days on end? Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik wants to make sure state lawmakers are aware.

In his latest public appearance regarding the power authority’s response to outages resulting from Tropical Storm Isaias, Hornik testified at the Senate Law and Public Safety Meeting on Oct. 19 citing extended power outages, slowed repair work and inaccurate restoration estimates resulting in confusion.

“This was a quick moving storm, yet many of our residents were without power for as long as the multi-day Sandy,” Hornik said Monday. “We understand that it takes time to assess and allocate resources, but days after Isaias passed JCP&L did not have answers. On the first day following Isaias, 90 percent of our residents without power. Day two 80 percent and day three, 70 percent. It was not until day four that power was to be restored to just over half our residents.”

Prior to his senate testimony, Hornik penned a letter to the Board of Public Utilities President Joe Fiordaliso, copying Governor Murphy, State Senators, Congressman Pallone, and representatives from JCP&L. In response, Speaker Craig Coughlin invited Mayor Hornik to testify before the New Jersey State Assembly Committee on August 19, followed by a teleconference with Fiordaliso.

Related: Marlboro Mayor: JCP&L Should Provide Generators For All Customers

Related: Mayor Hornik To Lawmakers: JCP&L Isaias Response Was 'Inadequate'

“I have come to the realization that JCP&L has only one goal, and that is to protect their shareholders. Unless the lawmakers institute substantial penalties for poor restoration efforts and the BPU enforces those penalties, JCP&L has no incentive nor intention to fix the problem,” the mayor continued.

“I hope that JCP&L will be required to invest in measurable and concrete storm response, meaningful system upgrades, and substantially improve their communication with the public and local elected officials.”

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