JCP&L to Invest $200 Million for Improvements

Jersey Central Power & Light announced a plan to invest $200 million in 2012 on projects the utility company said are "designed to improve service reliability and help meet the increasing demand for electricity in northern and central New Jersey."

Donald Lynch, president of JCP&L, said Tuesday morning the investment includes the completion of several new substations, including in Andover Township in Sussex County, and in Tewksbury in Hunterdon County, as well as a $2 million investment to upgrade more than 40 distribution circuits within JCP&L's New Jersey service area, which includes 236 municipalities.

"The substantial investments we plan to make this year and in the future are part of JCP&L’s ongoing efforts to improve the quality of service we provide our customers,” Lynch said. “We have targeted projects such as replacing wires and poles, installing new fuses, adding new equipment and trimming trees, all to improve service to our customers."

Lynch said since 2001, the utility company has invested more than $1.6 billion in capital improvements to its distribution network. He noted in northern New Jersey alone, $165 million was spent rebuilding much of JCP&L's entire system, due to the damage caused both by Hurricane Irene and the freak October snowstorm. The former included . That substation has only just recently been restored to full service, .

Lynch also spoke Tuesday of an "aggresive tree trimming program," which he said JCP&L intended to spend $20 million initiating.

"We have to cut back trees and branches that threaten our wires," Lynch said. "It's an outage waiting to happen."

Asked whether JCP&L would be more aggressive than usual following the damage caused in 2011 from natural disasters, Lynch said the utility would work with towns to make sure the proper amount of clearance–15 feet in any direction from the wires–is obtained. "If we don't have the rights, we have to obtain permission, we can't just go in and do that," he said. "A lot of the outages we saw were caused by trees outside our trimming corridor."

Overall, Lynch said he wanted customers to know JCP&L was working on continuing to improve its systems.

"We want to get out and show folks JCP&L continues to invest," he said.