Gov. Murphy Orders Probe Of Power Companies After 2 Nor'easters

MORRIS, NJ — Gov. Phil Murphy has ordered an investigation into the utility companies' handling of two back-to-back nor'easters that left hundreds of thousands of residents without power for a week.

“My office has instructed President Fiordaliso and the (Board of Public Utilities) to look into to conduct a full investigation into the responses to the storm,” Murphy said in a statement.

“We are going to examine what went wrong, and whether the plans for protecting and strengthening our grid devised post-Sandy have been followed statewide," he added.

More than 100,000 residents lost power during Friday nor'easter, many of them in North Jersey. Although tens of thousands saw power restored, thousands of customers entered a second nor'easter still without power from the first.

As of press time, more than 250,000 customers across the state are without power because of the second nor'easter. There are still no timelines for when power might be restored across northern New Jersey, JCP&L president Jim Fakult said during a Thursday afternoon press conference. Read more: No Restoration Times For 45K Without Power In Morris County

Murphy, speaking during a press conference, said a state-of-emergency will remain in effect until late Thursday after the brutal nor'easter left a lot of damage in its path. More than 2 feet of snow fell in some spots.

Communities throughout New Jersey warned people about the danger of live wires in their streets, and at least one person has died after his car struck a live wire. Read more: NJ Nor'easter Turns Deadly As Downed Wires, Trees Pose Danger

Murphy said the BPU will look to see if all preparedness measures that were taken before last Friday, knowing a major event was coming. "If they have not been, that is entirely inexcusable,” he said.

“The BPU will be conducting an immediate in-depth review of the storm-related Board Orders implemented post-Sandy,” said BPU President Joseph Fiordaliso. “I applaud Governor Murphy for taking the issue of power restoration so seriously and for taking a leadership role in ensuring significant improvements are made to benefit the people of New Jersey.”

Hearings will be held in areas served by JCP&L, the company with the most prolonged outages and that serves the hardest hit areas of the state, Murphy said.

BPU has also directed that all utility companies keep their crews in-state until all homes have power restored.

Port Authority photo