by Charley Falkenburg
In light of the impact of Hurricane Sandy, West Windsor wants to burn its bridges with Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) after the company failed again to meet the town’s expectations during an emergency.
Like it did on the rest of the East Coast, Hurricane Sandy greeted West Windsor by devouring telephone poles, snapping power lines, and downing enough oaks and elms to earn it the title “Tree City U.S.A.” The result: thousands left cold, frustrated, and in the dark for days, making JCP&L customers question the company’s diligence and competence as they waited for signs of responders.
With a bad taste already lingering from Hurricane Irene, October’s superstorm appeared to be the last straw for JCP&L customers, which make up about one-third of West Windsor’s population. Most of JCP&L’s territory lies on both sides of Old Trenton Road East, near many assisted living facilities and adult communities, such as Bear Creek, the Elements, and Village Grande. It also includes Village School and Grover Middle School.
The remaining two-thirds of West Windsor belong to Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G).
In June, Gerry Ricciardi, JCP&L area manager of community and relations, visited council with updates on the company’s communication improvements. Communication, however, this was not the issue this time.
“The problem was getting them over there to address it. It was days before they went to assess the extent of the damage,” said Police Chief Joseph Pica. After the storm hit on Monday, October 29, it took JCP&L until Friday, November 2 to arrive at the affected areas.
“I was pleading with them to get someone over there, explaining that we have seniors and two schools in that area,” he added. “This was the frustration we had.”
Once they did arrive, however, they completed repairs in about 12 hours, Pica said. Because JCP&L’s territories are all on the same power grid, all areas are affected when one goes out or is restored. PSE&G customers regained power back in patches, from five hours after the storm to Saturday, November 10.
West Windsor resident Pete Weale, who has PSE&G, was without power for 12 days but had no issues with the company. “We’re a very demanding and pampered population,” Weale said. “The entire infrastructure wasn’t built in a day, and PSE&G had no logistical template about how many poles would break during the storm.”
JCP&L spokesman Ray Morano explained that the delays occurred because they had to first rebuild the backbone of their system, which involved repairing transmission lines, substations, and sub transmission lines.
“If we repaired local areas first, people would have been out of service longer,” Morano said. “I understand people’s frustrations, but this was a devastating storm with severe damage.”
But the lights are on and the frustrations are still there, prompting the administration to embark on a mission that has yet to be accomplished: giving its residents the option to choose its power company.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh has sent letters to Governor Chris Christie, state representatives, and the state Board of Public Utilities in hopes of making all of West Windsor covered by PSE&G (see page 2).
He will also be endorsing Christie’s proposal to raise utility company penalties to $25,000 versus the current $100 fine. “Between last year and this year, JCP&L made some communication improvements, but it’s not good enough,” Hsueh said. “I want to express my concerns about JCP&L.”
By having all of West Windsor under PSE&G, the town would mirror neighboring Plainsboro. The majority of Plainsboro regained power within six days, with the final two homes regaining power on Saturday, November 10.
At the height of the storm, the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro (UMCPP) was also without power for about 40 minutes when a glitch caused the generators to shut off at 7:04 p.m. on Monday, October 29, while an operating room was in use. During the outage, the hospital powered critical equipment and patient ventilators with backup batteries.
Once the generators were back up, they remained on until PSE&G restored full power to the hospital at 5:52 a.m. on Tuesday, October 30. Andy Williams, a spokesman for UMCPP, confirmed patient care was not compromised during the outage.
“I am confident this type of issue will be prevented in future storms,” Plainsboro Township Administrator Robert Sheehan said. “We are looking at the situation closely to make sure it does not occur again.”
Though Plainsboro is overall satisfied with PSE&G, Sheehan thought switching would be virtually impossible. Greg Reinert, director of communications for the Board of Public Utilities, confirmed it would be extremely complicated and has never been done before.
Reinert explained that multiple large towns could petition the board, which ultimately has the authority to grant the change. There would also have to be a willing buyer if JCP&L agreed to sell part of its infrastructure. “You’re talking about a lot of hypotheticals. It’s not just ‘I want to go to this company and they can bill me,’” said Reinert. “It’s not that easy.”
Nonetheless, West Windsor is not the only town looking to make a switch. In Hopewell Township residents expressed their dissatisfaction with JCP&L at a township committee meeting. And the West Windsor mayor, for one, has not been deterred. “I’m not going to give up and I am going to keep asking for it,” he said.
