The state Board of Public Utilities division of reliability and security will conduct a post-mortem investigation into power companies’ storm response and the pace of restorations, said the agency’s president Joseph Fiordaliso Wednesday during the BPU’s monthly meeting.
The Aug. 4 storm battered New Jersey with ripping winds and it knocked down trees, power lines and utility poles. Power was returned for all residents and businesses by Monday night, a week after the storm.
“(An investigation) will determine for us whether or not we need a general public hearing regarding the storm to see what the findings were, to see and ensure the utilities followed the appropriate protocols, that they did everything possible to get everything up and running,” Fiordaliso said. “(The storm) was quick, it was strong and in many areas devastating.”
Residents and mayors criticized utility company JCP&L for prolonged waits and poor communication. JCP&L provides power to more than 2 million New Jerseyans.
“I’m anxious, and I know my colleagues are, to see what the results are,” he continued. “I kept stressing communicate, communicate communicate. You have to let people know what’s going on. I think for the most part, that did happen. But there’s always lapses.”
Contributing to slow restoration times, he said, was major transmission damage and downed trees.
He said the storm renewed the importance of clearing vegetation around power lines to cut down on outages caused by fallen trees or branches, known as “vegetation management.”
“Vegetation management is extremely important in maintaining a strong energy system within the state. We are going to revisit vegetation management... These trees have to be cleared before crews again can get in and repair.”
BPU Commissioner Bob Gordon said utility companies didn’t adequately communicate with customers amid the outages and pointed the need for investments in “advanced metering infrastructure.”
AMI are smart meters installed on homes that enable utility companies to detect outages more quickly and dispatch repair crews accordingly. The technology is already is in place in other states in the U.S., and in February, the BPU filed an order that gave New Jersey’s four electric companies until Aug. 27 to file plans to implement AMI.
“We live in a time where you can plug an address into a GPS system and get to your location... and yet, in the 21st century, you have to call your utility to let them know your power is out. That’s just crazy... Other states have AMI installed so someone sitting behind a screen can see that a particular property has just lost power. This is information that can be used to expedite efficient response.”
“I join you in calling for a careful investigation of what happened last week,” Gordon said.
Commissioner Mary-Anna Holden said power companies also need to prioritize customers whose homes run on septic systems.
Crews typically start restoring power first for priority customers, such as hospitals, emergency services, nursing homes and people who need breathing equipment.
“We have priorities... but forget about the people that are on septic and don’t have power to pump any water and being without water and waste facilities for five days is kind of rough and unacceptable,” she said. “I look forward to (the BPU) really digging into this.”
Fiordaliso, however, said utility companies have improved infrastructure since Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and predicted that a storm similar to last week’s would have caused two week outages.
“We want to decrease the number of outages and we want to decrease the duration of those outages,” he said. “That’s what we all want.”
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Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo2@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AvalonZoppo.
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