Jersey Central Power & Light has completed upgrades to enhance service reliability on 22 major circuits serving nearly 41,000 customers in Burlington, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Mercer, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean and Warren counties. Year-to-date, JCP&L has completed more than 40 of 90 planned circuit upgrades across its service area that are budgeted at a total cost of about $6 million.
The work is part of the company's effort to use advanced technology to help enhance its system. The upgrades included installing more resilient polymer fuses, animal guards and lightning protection devices, adding larger, 10-foot cross-arms to increase wire clearance, and installing fault indicators that help identify problem areas on a circuit, which helps speed the restoration process if an outage occurs.
Upgrades were completed on circuits serving the following municipalities:
- Burlington County – Pemberton Township, Southampton Township and Woodland Township
- Hunterdon County – Clinton Township, Hampton Borough, Lebanon Township, Tewksbury Township and Union Township
- Middlesex County – Sayreville and South Amboy
- Mercer County – East Windsor Township
- Monmouth County – Aberdeen Township, Colts Neck Township, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Holmdel Township, Marlboro Township, Matawan Borough and Middletown Township
- Morris County – Denville Township, Hanover Township, Harding Township, Morris Plains Borough, Morristown, Morris Township, Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, and Riverdale Borough
- Ocean County – Berkeley Township, Jackson Township, Lacey Township, Lakewood Township and Manchester Township
- Warren County – Mansfield Township, Washington Borough and Washington Township
"With the summer season upon us and the possibility of storms and increased customer electrical usage, these circuit enhancements are expected to make our distribution system more robust," said Tony Hurley, vice president of Operations for JCP&L. "The work will provide reliability benefits to our customers now and in the future by helping to limit the frequency and duration of potential service disruptions."
The projects are part of JCP&L's previously announced plans to spend $267 million in 2015 to help enhance and maintain a strong electrical system and help meet future load growth.
