In response to unacceptable communications updates during and after Hurricane Irene late last August, Gerald M. Ricciardi, area manager of community and customer relations for Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) addressed Council at its Monday, June 25, meeting and offered his services as a main contact person in the event of an emergency.
Ricciardi’s appearance in West Windsor came less than two weeks before severe thunderstorms on Saturday, July 7, knocked out power for 70,000 JCP&L customers in Mercer County and other locations in Central Jersey. But two days later, the utility reported that only 150 homes remained without power.
JCP&L is aiming at similar turnarounds as this year’s tropical storm season approaches. Last fall Police Chief Joe Pica, Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, and Council Vice President Linda Geevers all expressed their discontent with JCP&L following Hurricane Irene as West Windsor residents were left without power and without an explanation of when power would be restored as the utility company dealt with problems to its generator.
At the Monday, July 9, Council meeting Pica reminded Council and residents about the importance of emergency notifications during such events. He said that his officers have found text messages to be the best new method available, and the chief encourages residents to sign up for notification on the department’s website — WestWindsorPolice.com.
Geevers has crusaded for overall better communications since Hurricane Irene. She has consistently reminded Council and the administration to hold JCP&L accountable to avoid a repeat of last year’s situation. Finally, Ricciardi has stepped forward as a face of JCP&L.
At the podium on June 25, Ricciardi described himself as a local guy — a 50-year resident of Hamilton — and he promised to be on-call any time the administration, Council, or West Windsor Police need him. One of Ricciardi’s most important messages was to advise customers that they are responsible for notifying the company when the power is out.
Ricciardi said he met with Chief Pica in May because a lot of West Windsor residents call the police whenever their lights go out. Ricciardi detailed locations of JCP&L’s service territory in West Windsor.
According to Mayor Hsueh, one-third of West Windsor residences are served by JCP&L and the rest are served by PSE&G. The mayor advised residents to make sure they know which utility company services them in the event of a major storm that could cause power outages.
JCP&L is the New Jersey division of FirstEnergy Corporation, which mainly provides services in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. To report power outages to FirstEnergy Corp., customers should call 1-888-LIGHTSS (544-4877). The company also advises customers to register their cell phone number on their account so the company’s automated system can reach them.
Ricciardi said he is JCP&L’s problem-solver for 20 municipalities in Central New Jersey. He detailed the improvements JCP&L has worked on for emergency communications since last year, including Twitter (@JCP_L), a new Facebook page, and an updated section on its parent company website — www.firstenergycorp.com — where residents can check how many homes in West Windsor are without power.
One message was clear: it is imperative that customers call JCP&L to report any power outages. “People think we have this giant board that shows when each individual customer is out — we will know when an entire circuit is out, but not each customer,” Ricciardi said.
According to Ricciardi, one of JCP&L’s advantages as being part of FirstEnergy’s network is that resources are in place for the company to get power line feeds from neighboring states if necessary during a big storm.
Ricciardi detailed changes that JCP&L made in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.
“We used to have all the outages divided up by zip code, but zip codes can go across multiple municipalities. We heard from our individual municipalities to make a change, and now every town and city we serve will be listed individually. If there is a wide outage they will be divided up by county,” he said.
JCP&L’s updated website — www.firstenergycorp.com — features a 24/7 Power Center for an interactive view on current outages within the company’s coverage areas.
Councilman Bryan Maher asked why JCP&L cannot track power outages of individual residences or even blocks of 15 to 20 houses.
“How is it that you don’t know that somebody’s power is out? In this age of technology where Verizon sells packages to control the lights at your hous from your office, I mean why doesn’t JCP&L have the technology or infrastructure to know when any outage happens?” Maher asked.
Michael Hornsby, chairman of the West Windsor Environmental Commission who spent part of his career at PSE&G, spoke after Ricciardi but commented on Maher’s question. “It’s a sorry state of affairs when a power line goes down. There is not a master control to show wherever lights go off; it doesn’t work that way. It should, and it will take some time for utilities to get to that level,” Hornsby told Council and about 40 residents.
Said Ricciardi: “We can have 1,200 residents on a circuit, and a block of let’s say 20 houses will not be noticed. There are some items called smartmeters, that if they were involved would serve as a two-way communication with our company.”
Cost has held the utility company back from that investment.
“It’s about $100 a meter, and we have 121 million customers, so this would be a $100 million investment that we would go to the board of public utilities to recoup that money. So far they’re not incorporating smart meters yet,” Ricciardi said.
Maher suggested that one meter could be put at the intersection for blocks of 20 to 50 homes so JCP&L could get at least a sampling.
Councilwoman Kristina Samonte commented that she has heard that there are problems with smartmeters in other states. Maher then told Ricciardi to have the company put bold letters on its next set of utility bills for customers reading “CALL US IF YOUR POWER IS OUT, DON’T CALL THE POLICE.”
Councilwoman Linda Geevers suggested that Ricciardi drop off extra copies of his company pamphlets and information both at the township offices and at the Village Grande development, which has 540 housing units.
To review last year’s issue, Geevers asked Ricciardi about flooding that occurred at a JCP&L substation. He explained that a draining colbert that went under a highway was the source of the problem. “We took measures to prevent flooding by putting a flood plain wall all around our control building” Ricciardi said.
“With 230 municipalities, how we work is taking our priorities at the county level first because with so many municipalities, we can’t make everybody number one,” he said. Other factors, such as water treatment plants, might also be taken into consideration ahead of each municipality.
