Officials Sound Off Against JCP&L for Irene Preparedness

As of Sunday night, Jersey Central Power and Lighting was reporting that power had been completely restored in Red Bank and Shrewsbury following Hurricane Irene, and that less than 500 customers in some surrounding towns remained without electricity.

In most cases, power returned to most homes and businesses in Monmouth County before estimates from JCP and L, though some of those estimates called for power to remain out for more than a week. Despite the recovery, officials in several towns say the power conglomerate failed in many respects when it came to Hurricane Irene, including both in preparation and response.

In all, more than 200,000 customers in Monmouth and Ocean Counties were without power immediately following the storm. And while that number dropped steadily over the following week, a distinct lack of communication and effort on the part of JCP and L made an already hard time more difficult, officials said.

Red Bank Mayor Pat Menna took to his official Facebook page to chastise the power company for not doing enough and setting themselves up for failure by making serious cutbacks over the years.

“Red Bank OEM (office of emergency management) and our staff and volunteers excelled in Hurricane. JCPL the energy monopoly was a dismal failure,” he wrote on his page. “Although we had scattered outages, I saw the results of their weak reaction in the area. JCPL was unprepared. For years, JCPL fat cats have been cutting workers and repair crews locally while padding salaries of corporate executives and consultants who are not the people working to restore power.”

Red Bank was spared significant damage from the storm, suffering only minor , which lasted a few hours during high tide, and plenty of flooded basements and toppled tree limbs. But, several days after the storm, JCP and L were still reporting that nearly 5,000 borough customers were without power following Irene.

In Shrewsbury, JCP and L reported that more than 1,600 were without power the day following the hurricane. That’s more than a third of the borough’s total population. Included among those without power were located along Route 35 between Sycamore and Shrewsbury Avenues. With the power out until Thursday night, several restaurants, as well as two markets, Acme and Trader Joe’s, lost almost all of their perishable items.

Shrewsbury Mayor Don Burden said the lack of communication and information provided by JCP and L was disappointing. 

Calls seeking comment from JCP and L were not immediately returned over the weekend.

Red Bank and Shrewsbury officials weren’t along in their criticisms of the power company. In nearby Tinton Falls, where thousands of customers also went without power for several days, Mayor Michael Skudera also complained about JCP and L’s apparent lack of communication.

“JCPL needs to provide more accurate information so we can inform the residents when power will be back on,” he told . “They should also look into how old the electrical equipment is in Tinton Falls and fix what is needed.”