Hornik: There Needs to be Major Changes Within JCP&L

Marlboro Township power is fully restored, but Mayor Jon Hornik said JCP&L still has to answer for its practices.

Hornik, who was also vocal after Hurricane Irene when the township spent up to 10 days without power in 2011, said he's not sure what township officials will do next but he does know the Monmouth County utility company needs to make changes.

"I know we have a long list of things that we think JCP&L needs to do to become better in terms of responding and restoring electricity," Hornik said. "It's not only communication. The actual restoration operation is completely in the dark ages."

Like many township officials around the state, Hornik said he spent countless hours speaking with JCP&L representatives and executives. But the mayor said many of those conversations were fruitless.

"We knew more on the ground in Marlboro than our JCP&L representative or executives knew in their office. It doesn't work."

In 2011, Hornik called for improved communication from the utility company as well as improved infrastructure and ground abilities. In March, JCP&L announced the beginning of $200 million of capital improvements, including communication and circuit upgrades.

Over the spring and summer months, several announced circuit upgrades in both Marlboro and Colts Neck as well as a $5 million project to improve road crew technologies.

But Hornik said it simply didn't work.

"It's archaic, the way to report an outage," Hornik said. "Residents need accurate, live information. There is no reason why residents should be waiting for paperwork to get back to a main office before they know their line is even being worked on. It gets lost in the shuffle."

In July, the Board of Public Utilities announced an investigation after public ridicule from customers and officials across the state prompted the Rate Counsel to look closer at JCP&L's corporate structure and practices. 

The BPU is alleging JCP&L made around $90 million more than it should have in 2010, according to a Board of Public Utilities news release.

For now, Hornik is glad his residents are safe and fully restored. But the mayor said when the time comes, the township will join what will certainly be an army of county and town officials calling for JCP&L to update its practices.