Noting Ocean County’s growing population and the large number of senior citizens that call the County home, the Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners Joseph H. Vicari is raising concerns about whether the power grid will be resilient enough to maintain power as the reliance on electric energy grows.
“As the state of New Jersey proposes to rely more and more on the power grid to operate our cars, cook our meals and other day to day activities, Ocean County faces many challenges that relate to the reliability and stability of the power grid,” stated Vicari in a letter to Joseph L. Fiordaliso, President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. “Being a leading tourism County, our population grows to 1.3 million people each summer. In addition, the County is home to the largest senior population in the state with more than 200,000 seniors living here, many of whom are 85-years-old and older.
“There is a growing concern with the greater reliance on electricity and also the increase of severe storms that we are experiencing as to whether our sources of electric power will be enough to keep our residents and visitors safe,” he wrote.
Ocean County is serviced by Jersey Central Power & Light Company and Atlantic City Electric for its electric power needs.
Vicari stated it is necessary for JCP&L and Atlantic City Electric to make certain that policies are updated and in place to enhance the power grid’s reliability, and design a sustainable infrastructure with strong resiliency so disruption of service is kept to a minimum for residents and visitors alike.
“We need to do all we can to avoid brownouts and power outages,” Vicari said. “With the large number of senior citizens that live here, it’s imperative the power grid is upgraded in order to meet their needs especially when it comes to powering devices that may affect their health and well-being.”
Vicari noted it was important to act now so that the almost 700,000 year-round residents living in Ocean County can feel secure about the reliability of the power grid in order to keep their lights on, keep businesses running, operating rooms functioning in addition to the many needs affiliated with power.
“There is a growing demand for more long-term reliability and resiliency of the power grid,” Vicari said. “Now is the time to act and assure this for all of our residents.”
JCP&L is already not meeting their obligations and the BPU isn’t doing anything about it.
For example, when it comes to new service for commercial, industrial, and certain types of residential construction JCP&L is unwilling or unable to provide design requirements to the developer/electrical engineer in a timely fashion. On occasion they will even accept a design from the engineer and then withdraw their approval once it is ordered. (The lead time for many of these components can be more than ten months)
Once again, a consequence of development before infrastructure. When will we learn?Everyone should invest in a generator.