Media Advisory: JCP&L Power Restoration Update
MORRISTOWN, N.J. – Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), has restored power to over 300,000 customers following consecutive severe storms that caused widespread damage, including fallen trees, downed power lines and broken utility poles. The vast majority of the approximately 40,000 customers currently without service are expected to have power restored today or tomorrow, with the remaining outages largely restored by Wednesday.
More than 2,900 personnel, including outside support from FirstEnergy utilities and contractor partners, remain focused on restoration efforts across New Jersey.
Since the storms occurred, crews have been repairing significant damage across the electric system, including transmission and distribution facilities, substations, power lines and utility poles. Throughout the restoration effort, work has been prioritized to restore power to the largest number of customers as safely and quickly as possible.
Crews are now focused on the remaining pockets of outages across the region. Many of these outages continue to involve substantial repairs, including replacing broken poles, repairing damaged power lines, clearing fallen trees from electrical equipment and rebuilding sections of the system damaged by the storms.
Customers may see crews working away from their neighborhoods and wonder how that work affects their outage. In many cases, repairs to equipment serving larger areas must be completed before power can be restored to homes and businesses farther down the line. Because restoration work is prioritized based on restoring the largest number of customers first, outages affecting smaller groups of customers may take longer to restore even as crews continue making significant progress across the region. Other locations require multiple repairs or specialized equipment to safely restore service.
While significant progress has been made, crews continue to encounter areas with extensive storm damage, difficult terrain and challenging access conditions that can extend restoration times.
For the safety of both the public and our crews, customers should stay clear of active work zones, obey road closures and proceed cautiously when driving near utility personnel. Motorists should treat intersections with non-functioning traffic signals as four-way stops.
We appreciate our customers' patience as crews continue this work and remain committed to restoring service as safely and as quickly as possible.
Estimated restoration times (ETRs) will continue to be updated, and customers can view outage updates and ETR information at firstenergycorp.com/outages or through their online account.
If you are without power, don't assume we are aware of your outage. Customers without power can report outages by calling 1-888-LIGHTSS (1-888-544-4877), texting OUT to 544487 or visiting firstenergycorp.com/outages.
Media Contact:
Chris Hoenig
609-350-8599
choenig@firstenergycorp.com