MANCHESTER – Elected officials and a large turnout of seniors sought answers from Jersey Central Power & Light representatives regarding the utility’s service issues and an explanation for recent power outages.
They were hosted by the Manchester Township Coordinating Council (made up of its senior communities) which held its latest meeting at the Crestwood Village V Clubhouse in Whiting.
The forum had a question-and-answer session and the JCP&L representatives discussed equipment upgrades and December’s power outage in Whiting. The township outage was the subject of several Township Council meetings where officials and residents expressed their outrage over the interruption of power around the holidays which caused the need for a warming shelter to be opened at Manchester Township High School.
Attendees called on JCP&L to significantly improve its accountability to its customers and resident Karen Argenti recommended they add a third transformer to the area.
A PowerPoint presentation put up by Jersey Central Power & Light illustrates how rates and charges are calculated on a customer’s bill. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
“There are plans to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Mayor Joseph Hankins said regarding the Christmas eve power outage that occurred in Whiting. The JCP&L guests included the director of the company’s area sub stations and members of the External Affairs Department, a state government affairs representative as well as Christopher Hoenig of the firm’s communications office.
Hoenig told the audience, “Ocean County is our second most populous county (of 13 New Jersey counties).” He blamed the outage on a combination of weather with the extreme cold and mechanical issues with a transformer losing power.
“There is never a good time for a power outage – anytime is frustrating. The temperatures on December 23 obviously made it more frustrating for all of you it also creates an instance of bringing the load back on line has to be done much more deliberately,” he added.
He noted that, “Because of a situation of cold loading, when you bring a load back onto a transformer with temperatures as cold as they were – you get a spike. If we were to bring all 11,000 customers back on all at once we would overload the transformer. You have to give time for that load to settle.”
One attendee repeated multiple times that the overall 33% increase in their bills that will be seen by June was “unacceptable.” The explanation of the firm having to import electricity from other states and JCP&L being a provider of power but not an energy generating company provided little solace to those in the audience.
Smart meters were another subject that drew anger from the audience. Congressman Jefferson Van Drew (R-2nd) has called for electric public utilities to be prohibited from increasing the rate charged to ratepayers to recover the cost of installing smart meters.
Legislation (S-4096 and A-5299) introduced by Senator Amato, Assemblyman Brian Rumpf and Assemblyman Gregory Myhre (all R-9th) mirrors a bill package introduced by Congressman Van Drew aimed at protecting “ratepayers’ rights.”
“Our district office has received many complaints from constituents who reported sharp increases in their electric bill shortly after having a smart meter installed. In response, we’ve joined with Congressman Van Drew to take legislative action to address the financial hardships wrongly being imposed on ratepayers, including those who are forced to choose between buying medication or paying their utility bill,” the 9th District lawmakers said in a joint statement.
Ninth District Legislative District Senator Carmen Amato (standing with microphone) speaks to Manchester Township residents while joined by members of the Township Police Department and Mayor Joseph Hankins at a well-attended Manchester Township Coordinating Council meeting in Crestwood Village V. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
The legislation requires electric public utilities to publish the amount and effective date of the rate increase and the reasons for the rate increase on its internet website and in any customer communication, including, but not limited to, a paper or electronic bill.
The utility would also be required to provide an explanation of any anticipated impact on ratepayer bills, including, but not limited to, a clear statement of the percentage by which ratepayer bills are expected to increase; and information on how ratepayers can provide feedback on the impact or file a complaint concerning the rate increase.
Senator Amato told The Manchester Times after the meeting, “There is frustration. We get e-mails and calls to our office on a regular basis and we are doing everything we can legislatively to address this. Our legislation has just been introduced and it will be going to the committee and we’ll take it from there.”
That legislation would also prohibit an electric public utility from disconnecting electric service or assessing a late fee for bill nonpayment to any ratepayer affected by a rate increase resulting in an average increase of five percent or greater of ratepayer bills within six months following that rate increase.
Mayor Joseph Hankins, left, joins Jersey Central Power & Light spokesman Christopher Hoenig at the Crestwood Village V Clubhouse for a meeting of the Manchester Township Coordinating Council where the subject concerned JCP&L operations. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
Mayor Hankins told The Manchester Times, “I feel it was important for JCP&L to come out and address the issue of the power outage. They do care and there were some questions about executives’ (high) salaries but that isn’t being directed at the people here taking the heat. We need to work on getting our power supplied by those in New Jersey which is something we don’t have. Micro nuclear power seems to be what the rest of the country is going for and I don’t think that is such a bad thing. We can make it here in New Jersey.”
In January, former Manchester mayor, now commissioner, Robert Arace called JCP&L’s response in how they interacted with the community as “absolutely abhorrent. It is entirely unacceptable.”
Members of the Manchester Township Coordinating Council that represents each of the township’s senior communities listen to a speaker from Jersey Central Power & Light at the Crestwood Village V Clubhouse. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
Arace and Deputy Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners Frank Sadgehi joined Mayor Hankins several other elected officials in a meeting with the president of JCP&L in January. Sadeghi described that meeting as being positive. He had threatened a $1 billion lawsuit on behalf of the county. “They need to be more accountable to their customers.”
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