Township hears JCP&L update: network upgrades coming; generation charges to rise in June

Township staff told the Bedminster Township Committee on May 5 that recent approvals by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and ongoing utility work should reduce outages in the Hills while generation charges soon will increase.

Colin, the committee’s utilities point person, said the BPU approved a reduced Energize New Jersey plan that will fund $22.5 million in network upgrades over about three and a half years beginning July 1. "Once that work is completed, the average residential bill will go up about 86 cents per month," he said, describing the network‑upgrade estimate. He added that the network upgrade note is separate from an anticipated 20.2% increase in generation charges expected to be implemented on June 1.

Colin and committee members described two priority local projects already underway: installation of reclosers (automatic switch devices that can detect faults and reclose to restore service) and a loop‑scheme tying switches at the north and south sides of the Hills so that a feed interruption from one direction can be automatically switched to the opposite feed. Installation trenches along Robertson and Hills Drive reflect the work to interconnect those switches, Colin said; reclosers and the loop are intended to reduce outage duration and avoid truck rolls.

The committee said JCP&L has agreed to provide a fuller update in June. Committee members also discussed that some planned substation improvements were part of larger packages but that the immediate local work is being done separately as priority projects.