TOMS RIVER, NJ – On Friday, as temperatures soared and the heat index climbed above 100 degrees across Northern Ocean County, JCP&L was plagued with power outages in Jackson, Toms River, and Lakewood. On Saturday morning, hundreds of homes were still experiencing outages after around 2,000 homes in those communities lost power.
Brownouts struck areas of Jackson as lights flickered between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday. As of 9 a.m. Saturday morning, approximately 300 homes in the area were without power.
JCP&L has reported that most incidents are under investigation, and crews have been dispatched.
Toms River Mayor Dan Rodrick, whose town has been hit hard by JCP&L outages over the past few years say the company needs to do better.
“These guys have to get their act together. If not, I believe we should implement fines for extended outages,” Mayor Rodrick said. “The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has to get on JCP&L. We have too many senior citizens in our town who depend on power for medical devices, cooling their homes, and refrigeration.”
Last year, former Ocean County Commissioner Joseph Vicari predicted problems with JCP&L’s infrastructure in Ocean County and worried that Governor Phil Murphy’s plan to ban gas powered cars, appliances, and lawn tools would pose a greater strain on the already plagued electrical grid in the county.
“I’m becoming more and more disappointed with the amount of outages in Jackson with the promises of having upgrades over the years and still seeing this makes one wonder where all the money is going. They need to step it up,” said Jackson Township Mayor Michael Reina.
“As the state of New Jersey proposes to rely more and more on the power grid to operate our cars, cook our meals, and other day-to-day activities, Ocean County faces many challenges that relate to the reliability and stability of the power grid,” Vicari said. Being a leading tourism County, our population grows to 1.3 million people each summer. In addition, the County is home to the largest senior population in the state with more than 200,000 seniors living here, many of whom are 85-years-old and older.”
