Bernards Twp's Ten Outages Are Last In Somerset County

Basking Ridge, NJ—The morning after residents and officials voiced frustration at extended power failures during a township committee meeting , Bernards is the only municipality in the county with outages remaining from Tropical Storm Isaias more than a week ago.

After fluctuating blackout numbers caused JCP&L to miss its self-appointed deadline to fully restore service, most customers were repaired by the early morning hours on Wednesday. But Bernards, which was fully restored on Tuesday, was back on the list.

Committee member John Carpenter and Mayor James Baldassare said last night that they felt residents' frustration with the long delays and what they called problems with sharing information with officials and customers.

"They are still the most miserable communicators," Carpenter said at the Tuesday night meeting. "I don't know what to do about that. I've spoken to them over the years until I'm blue in the face."

The mayor, who has been in constant contact with JCP&L throughout the emergency, agreed, and said a company representative would be in Bernards soon to answer questions from residents.

Bernards cusotmers were given an updated restoration time of 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday.