JCP&L Expects to Restore Customers from First Winter Storm by Late Tonight

MORRISTOWN, N.J., March 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) is on track to restore electric service by late this evening to the majority of the 3,400 customers who remain without power due to the first severe winter storm that slammed the Mid-Atlantic and New England areas. The majority of the customers affected by the second winter storm are expected to be restored by late Monday.

A workforce of nearly 6,000 people – line workers, hazard responders and assessors, forestry crews, job dispatchers, and electrical contractors – are part of JCP&L's overall restoration effort that also includes ongoing work to restore power to the remaining 41,000 customers affected by the second winter storm. 

Estimated restoration times for customers impacted by the second storm are as follows:

• Central New Jersey: Sunday, March 11, at 11:30 p.m.
• Northern New Jersey: Monday, March 12, at 11:30 p.m.

"Crews are restoring customers around the clock and many people in the affected areas will get their power back on before our estimates," said Jim Fakult, president of JCP&L.  "The damage to our system has been substantial, with more than 600 broken poles and more than 1,700 spans of wire needing to be replaced.  Our restoration times reflect this wide-spread damage and also the thousands of single outages that require crews to travel to each individual location to make repairs."

To handle the influx of outside workers, staging sites have been established in Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, and Sussex counties. 

JCP&L continues to post storm updates on social media and on the company website.  Follow JCP&L on Twitter @JCP_L, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JCPandL or online at www.jcp-l.com.  Water and ice also is available for JCP&L customers currently without power.  For distribution locations, visit firstenergycorp.com/outages_help/storm_info/water-ice.html.

JCP&L reminds customers to immediately report downed wires to their utility at 888-LIGHTSS (888-544-4877), or to their local police or fire department.  Customers should never go near a downed wire even if they think it is no longer carrying electricity.   Extra caution should be used in areas where downed lines are tangled in trees or other debris.

After local power lines are repaired and put back in service, damage to individual customer service wires may become apparent.  Customers are reminded that if their neighbor's power is on and theirs is not, the problem may be isolated to their individual service, and service to the neighbor could be fed from a different circuit.  Customers are encouraged to report such problems, even at this latter stage in the restoration process.

JCP&L is a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE).  JCP&L serves 1.1 million New Jersey customers in the counties of Burlington, Essex, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren.  Follow JCP&L on Twitter @JCP_L, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JCPandL or online at www.jcp-l.com.

FirstEnergy is dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence.  Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York.  The company's transmission subsidiaries operate more than 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.  Visit FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com and follow on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.