Chatham Officials Get The Review Of JCP&L They Wanted

CHATHAM, NJ—The state Bureau of Public Utilities said on Friday that it would examine JCP&L's response to the recent tropical storm, days after Morris County officials, including eight borough and township representatives, called for an investigation and infrastructure improvements.

"The Board's Division of Reliability and Security will conduct a post mortem on utility performance in restoring power lost as a result of Tropical Storm Isaias," said a statement by the BPU on Friday. "If need be, we will conduct a further investigation after the post mortem is completed."

The scrutiny followed Chatham Borough Mayor Thaddeus Kobylarz, Chatham Township Deputy Mayor Tracy Ness, and several council and committee members issuing a joint statement with nearly two dozen Morris County elected leaders last week. The officials called for infrastructure improvements and compensation for customers who lost perishables during the blackout.

JCP&L representatives said the company does not reimburse for lost food, medicine, or other perishables, but suggested customers contact their insurance company. The company added that the reforms the Morris officials demanded were being addressed through the Reliability Plus Program, the utility's $97 million investment in upgrades.

"Once the projects are complete," said Cliff Cole, a company spokesman, "JCP&L expects that customers will experience fewer sustained outages under normal conditions as well as a reduction in outage duration."

But Ness, Chatham Township's deputy mayor, sounded unconvinced, referring to the utility's response to the storm as "disappointing, at best" and calling for more reforms.

"We experienced Super Storm Sandy and that should have been a wake up call," said Ness, "we should not have to ask for this after another devastating storm."