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JCPNL presents ‘Energize NJ’ upgrades as residents press for immediate outage fixes
Summary
JCPNL officials described a multi‑year infrastructure program (Energize NJ) and said Berkeley Heights is scheduled for transmission and distribution improvements; residents and council members pressed the utility for clearer local timelines, outage data and faster remedies for chronic power interruptions.
Bob Flynn, JCPNL external affairs, told the Berkeley Heights Township Council on June 30 that the company’s Energize NJ plan aims to modernize distribution circuits, transmission and substations to reduce outages and add redundancy. "We originally filed for $930 million. The BPU said we can spend around $212 million," Flynn said, adding the scaled program reduces the per‑customer bill impact to roughly $0.86 a month for the average home compared with an earlier estimate of about $4.30.
Why it matters: Residents say momentary outages and short brownouts are causing real economic and equipment damage locally; public commenters documented dozens to hundreds of interruptions in recent years and urged the company and regulators to provide clearer remedial timetables. Affected households and employers cited lost work time, damaged electronics and interruptions to first‑responder or municipal services.
Details from the presentation: Flynn and Gil Guerrero, identified in the meeting as the reliability supervisor, described equipment and operational fixes used in other territories — looped feeders, reclosers, automated trip‑saver devices and replacement of conductor types in heavily vegetated areas (referred to during the meeting as “country wire”). Flynn said some of the reliability work is part of a five‑year program targeted for completion around 2028–29 and that specific projects affecting Berkeley Heights will be coordinated with the township as plans are finalized.
Resident experience and requests: Several residents made detailed public comments. One said a single‑minute outage at a research facility repeatedly damages test equipment; another presented multi‑year outage counts and said they had forwarded six pages of color‑coded data to the council. Multiple speakers described recurring outages in particular neighborhoods and demanded that the utility make locally verifiable outage and reliability data available. Flynn said homeowners can request reliability investigations by contacting the utility and that JCPNL staff will provide town‑level data once project planning is further along.
What’s next: Flynn said the utility conducts preliminary meetings with the township and planning bodies before pole replacements or construction begin, and promised to share one‑page summaries for residents when local schedules are set. Council members and residents asked for routine outage reporting to be provided to the township so municipal staff can track problem locations and restoration performance.
The meeting did not include any formal action on the Energize NJ plan; JCPNL representatives said they will return with more detailed local schedules as engineering evaluations and permitting move forward.
