Trenton, NJ – New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia is criticizing the state’s energy policies after powerful thunderstorms knocked out electricity to more than 150,000 JCP&L customers heading into a sweltering Fourth of July weekend.
In a social media post Saturday morning, Fantasia pointed to widespread power outages and forecasts calling for temperatures near 100 degrees as evidence that New Jersey’s electric grid is being pushed to its limits.
“We just got ROCKED by massive storms up here on top of sweltering heat,” Fantasia wrote alongside a screenshot of the JCP&L outage map.
Questions raised about grid reliability
Fantasia criticized what she described as New Jersey’s “electrify everything” agenda, referring to state policies encouraging or requiring greater use of electricity for transportation, home heating, appliances, and new construction.
“But let’s not get caught up in the harsh reality of words like reliability and capacity,” she wrote. “NJ’s push to electrify EVERYTHING is really great! Cars, school buses, home heating, hot water heaters, stoves, warehouses, delivery fleets, state vehicles, lawn equipment, leaf blowers, construction equipment, forklifts, and EV chargers multiplying like rabbits.”
The Republican lawmaker also referenced conservation alerts issued by PJM Interconnection, the regional electric grid operator, writing that “generators are offline, transmission lines are overloaded & utilities like JCP&L are restoring outages after major storms during a heat wave.”
Fantasia further criticized comments by Gov. Mikie Sherrill regarding electric rates, writing, “Thank goodness @GovSherrillNJ told BPU they ‘shall strongly consider’ freezing electric rates.”
Outages continue across New Jersey
As of Saturday morning, JCP&L reported more than 150,000 customers remained without power following Friday night’s severe thunderstorms. The largest numbers of outages were reported in Morris, Monmouth, Sussex, Union, and Hunterdon counties as utility crews worked to repair damaged equipment.
The National Weather Service forecast called for another day of dangerous heat Saturday, with highs near 99 degrees and heat index values reaching 104 degrees before showers and thunderstorms were expected to move through Saturday night.
State officials have encouraged residents without electricity to seek cooling centers or other air-conditioned public locations if needed and to avoid downed power lines while restoration efforts continue.
Key Points
- Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia criticized New Jersey’s electrification policies after widespread storm-related power outages.
- Fantasia questioned whether the state’s electric grid can support increasing demand while utilities restore service during extreme heat.
- More than 150,000 JCP&L customers remained without power Saturday as temperatures approached 100 degrees.
