Board of Commissioners is calling for urgent reforms at Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), citing repeated service failures, rising utility rates, and a lack of accountability to the community.
In June, JCP&L customers saw their average monthly bills increase by $23, roughly 20 percent, from $112.25 up to as much as $134.92. Ocean County Commissioner Deputy Director Frank Sadeghi warned that such increases will force some families to make impossible choices.
“Too many of our residents are already struggling to make ends meet,” said Sadeghi. “When utility bills go up by this much, families may have to decide between keeping the lights on, buying food, or paying for medicine. That is simply unacceptable.”
Officials pointed to JCP&L’s troubling history of frequent and prolonged outages, noting that the company has often refused to reimburse customers for spoiled food and other losses caused by power failures.
“JCP&L needs to concentrate less on profits and more on serving its customers,” said Sadeghi. “That means upgrading the infrastructure, trimming trees to prevent falling limbs from taking down power lines, and moving more lines underground where they will be protected from storms and high winds.”
The Board also emphasized the need for JCP&L to complete long-delayed upgrades to its power grid, warning that without meaningful improvements, the region could face disaster in the event of a major storm.
“We all remember Superstorm Sandy,” said Sadeghi. “Ocean County experienced widespread outages then, and the same thing will happen again if a hurricane strikes and JCP&L is not better prepared. We cannot allow history to repeat itself.”
Commissioner Sadeghi reaffirmed the Board’s commitment to fighting for residents who depend on reliable, affordable power.
“Utility companies must be held accountable,” said Sadeghi. “Ocean County residents deserve better than broken promises and rising bills. JCP&L must step up, strengthen its system, and put its customers first.”
There are so many street light is burn out and the JCP&L and they are putting every IY life in danger.
Yes, in the past two years, they were getting quite behind on replacing bulbs, but just the past month, have been pumping it up, and many are getting changed. So, if you see one burnt out, do a favor and call it in!
888-LIGHTSS (544-4877) (Say ‘agent’ several times until the system connects you to a live agent. – 24 hrs.)
Service request at www.firstenergycorp.com
Can text – if have JCP&L account: Text REG to 544487 (LIGHTS). Use keyword OUT.
Either way, you MUST have street address; they will not process the report without it. Pole number is optional but is helpful.
TY JCP&L!
The towns deserve blame for this as well. When they approve new development they need to take the electric, water, runoff and sewage loads that are going to be put on the infrastructure into account. If they can’t handle the new development then the new construction should be placed on hold until the infrastructure is upgraded. The upgraded infrastructure should then be spec’ed with further potential development in mind.
Why should a burned out bulb have anything to do with that? The bulbs on my block have been out for at least 6 months with no jcpl to even give a care. Face facts, they only care about their profit.
So I imagine you’ve reached out to JCPL many, many times through either the link on the Lakewood government website, the JCPL website or placed a call to them as well? I’ve contacted JCPL a few times about burned out bulbs that were always replaced within 2-3 days. Besides, I see nowhere in the article that mentions light bulbs, but there are plenty of references to the upgrading of the electrical service which is lagging behind due to so much development being approved without consideration of the load being put on the system. All you have to do is look at where the majority of the blackouts in Lakewood are happening and you’ll see it’s the area where development is running rampant. That’s a fact.
Tell Governor Knucklehead to stop spending money on windmills that don’t work and our electric rate will go down
Maybe call the governor of Texas and ask him why their electric rates are low and stable because they use multiple sources of energy production, including leading the USA in production of wind energy.
The requisite power to run AI can be as much as running the whole township. Wait for it. Just ask any AI system.