What to Know
- Thousands of people in New Jersey are still without power three days after Wednesday's nor'easter toppled trees and power lines
- Gov. Murphy called JCP&L's response to the storm "embarrassing" and said he was "mad as heck"
- About 20,000 customers of other utilities across the tri-state are also still without power after the back-to-back nor'easters
With tens of thousands of customers still without power days after back-to-back nor’easters, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is calling for an investigation into one utility’s response to the storms.
Murphy slammed JCP&L’s response to Wednesday’s nor’easter, calling it “embarrassing and unacceptable” in a press release Saturday.
“I will not accept any of the company’s excuses for why thousands of New Jerseyans continue to be without power,” Murphy said in the release. “I am prepared to use all the authority at my disposal to get power restored.”
About 25,507 JCP&L customers were still without power Saturday evening, three days after the second nor’easter toppled trees and buried towns in inches of snow.
Murphy said he wants the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to investigate JCP&L's storm preparedness and response once all the power outages have been addressed.
On Saturday, JCP&L informed many customers that power wouldn’t be restored until Monday, Murphy said.
After speaking with the governor, JCP&L officials agreed to restore power by Saturday evening to all JCP&L customers affected by the first nor’easter that hit on March 2. They also agreed to repair poles in their service areas that belong to other utility companies.
New Jersey was hit hardest by the second nor’easter on Wednesday, and many residents without power have left their homes to stay at hotels or with family. Others have been using generators for electricity.
In Millburn on Saturday, JCP&L crews were cutting down mangled trees and restoring power to homes. The utility said it had 6,000 employees in the Millburn area, including 3,600 line-workers.
“These efforts, which should have been taken days ago, are small steps in the right direction,” Murphy said. “But we have a long way to go. People are mad as heck and so am I.”
In a statement, a JCP&L spokesman Ronald Morano said the utility remains focused on restoring service to its customers.
“We will cooperate with the Board of Public Utilities to determine areas of improvement for future events,” Morano said.
Thousands of customers of other utilities were also still without power Saturday evening, including: 4,787 Eversource customers; 7,877 PSE&G customers; and 3,043 Con Edison customers.
In New Rochelle, Marcia Lyttle and her two sons have been living in their car for nine days.
Local
Lyttle is one of thousands of customers still without power since the first nor'easter hit well over a week ago.
"I have no heat. I have no hot water. I have no lights. I have nothing," Lyttle said.
Con Ed says they've dispatched 2,000 workers to work around the clock to fix the outages and storm damage. The utility expects that more than 3,000 customers still in the dark should have their power restored by Sunday night; the rest, by Monday evening.
"It's disheartening. I really feel let down," Lyttle said as she loaded dry ice into her car-turned-home. "I feel like Con Edison is making me a hostage on the streets."
