TOMS RIVER, NJ – Toms River Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill and the Toms River Township council agreed on Wednesday that action must be taken against electricity provider JCP&L.
Hill said that he wants to file a complaint with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities over the state of the electrical grid in the township after weeks of power outages, especially in vulnerable senior communities.
The mayor said he suspects there is more going on behind the scenes that JCP&L isn’t telling the public about the poor state of the local grid and infrastructure.
Councilman Daniel Rodrick, who earlier proposed a $25,000 per hour fine against the company said that after consulting with township attorneys, the town would have no jurisdiction to do so.
Rodrick and Council President Matt Lotano agreed with Hill on taking their complaints to the BPU.
“This is unacceptable,” Hill said. “We have a lot of residents on oxygen and other medical devices.”
Those residents were out of power for a nearly 24-hour period last week.
Hill called upon the BPU to investigate the infrastructure.
“I find this hard to believe these are isolated incidents and just bad luck,” Hill said. “There’s more than meets the eye.”