Millions spent on power after Superstorm Sandy, but will it work?

Oct 28 - Asbury Park Press (NJ)

It's not possible to know the severity of the next big storm.

But Jersey Central Power & Light's new president, James V. Fakult, does know one thing: "We are much better prepared."

Superstorm Sandy, the worst storm JCP&L faced, knocked the utility to its knees. Wind brought down trees and snapped utility poles. Transmission and local distribution electric lines were cut. Some substations were flooded. Some people were out of power for weeks,a problem compounded by a November snowstorm. At its peak, more than 978,000 customers, including more than 469,000 in Monmouth and Ocean counties, were without electricity.

And JCP&L got hit with a landslide of criticism over a lack of communication with local officials and residents regarding when the power would come on. Some mayors said they heard from their police departments where utility crews were working, not from JCP&L itself.

A lot has happened in the past year at JCP&L "It's been a very, very busy year," Fakult said.

First, there's a new leadership team. Fakult, 50, the president of FirstEnergy Corp's Maryland operations, became the new president of JCP&L this summer, replacing Donald Lynch, 59, who retired.

The utility spent a "tremendous amount of effort and energy" to reshape its communications infrastructure, Fakult said. For instance, there's a new storm communications manager. The utility has 10 area managers, adding three recently with plans for a fourth,stationed in garages where utility crews are based throughout its service territory, including Lakewood, Union Beach and Long Branch, to communicate directly with mayors and county and state officials. "We are in a much, much better spot," Fakult said.

A new incident management system changes the way JCP&L manages storm restoration and is the same system used by federal and state agencies. It "puts our entire team on the same page throughout the event," Fakult said.

Meanwhile, JCP&L is investing nearly $200 million this year to expand and strengthen its infrastructure in northern and central New Jersey. It includes more than $2.5 million to upgrade more than 90 distribution circuits, such as adding fuses and new wire, to reduce outages on lines that serve more than 100,000 customers.

The projects also include a new circuit to better support load growth and reliability for customers in Farmingdale and Howell, areas identified by the utility where upgrades are needed. Other work will add equipment in Lakewood, Howell and Neptune that will switch circuits and reroute electricity if one is taken out by a falling tree, Fakult said.

Those costs associated with the projects are not expected to raise customers' bills.

But JCP&L has asked state regulators to force customers to open their wallets to cover $603 million of the $630 million the utility spent in the aftermath of Sandy. If the proposal is approved by the state Board of Public Utilities, the average monthly bill would increase from $98.10 to $102.54, or 4.5 percent, based on a household using 650 kilowatts.

Sandy battered Wall-based New Jersey Natural Gas and its distribution system along the coast. Extensive damage caused the utility to curtail service from Bay Head through Long Beach Island for weeks while repairs were made. A large section of gas main, usually buried four to six feet below the ground, was unearthed in Mantoloking. The storm also moved houses, which yanked out gas lines and caused leaks and fires.

"We had some tough decisions to make in the storm," said Laurence M. Downes, 56, chairman and chief executive officer at New Jersey Natural Gas. The decision curtailed service to 5 percent of the utility's customers because they couldn't safely work and fix the damage otherwise. "It was a tough decision, but it was absolutely the correct decision for us," Downes said.

In less than eight weeks following the storm, the utility repressurized or replaced 270 miles of main, installed one mile of 12-inch main, addressed 3,600 anomalies, rebuilt or replaced 51,000 meters, completed 121,000 service assessments and restored service to more than 30,000 customers. The company said it will spend an estimated $40 million, including $28 million this year, to deal with the storm's aftermath. Those costs will be passed on to utility's customers at a later time.

In September, New Jersey Natural Gas said it wanted to pour more than $100 million into its distribution system in the most vulnerable portions of its service territory along the Jersey Shore. The purpose: harden it and mitigate against destruction caused by extreme weather, such as Sandy.

The work includes the installation of 1.5 miles of distribution main in Sea Bright as a secondary feed; moving a regulator station, which manages the pressure on distribution mains, in Mantoloking off the barrier island and installing a new high pressure feed to Mantoloking; installing a secondary feed from Toms River to Seaside Park and adding 35,000 excess-valves which cut service to a home if there is a break on the line.

The proposal "is directly related to our experience from the storm and investments that we are going to make to help us in the future to deal with those issues," Downes said.

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David P. Willis: 732-643-4039; dwillis@ njpressmedia.com

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