Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), has started construction on infrastructure upgrades designed to enhance electric reliability for customers in three Morris County communities. The work is scheduled to be completed in October 2025 as part of JCP&L's New Jersey Reliability Improvement Project, an element of the company's rate review settlement approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in February.
Equipment enhancements will take place along more than five miles of power lines in Chester, Washington and Roxbury townships. More than 2,100 JCP&L customers are expected to benefit from this work.
Doug Mokoid, FirstEnergy's President, New Jersey: "The upgrades we're making under the New Jersey Reliability Improvement Project are part of our commitment to providing safe, reliable electric service for all our customers. These improvements, in particular, target areas where customers have experienced some of the most frequent outages in recent years."
The upgrades include:
- Replacing existing infrastructure with thicker, stronger wires and poles that can safely carry more electricity and provide more resiliency in storms.
- Upgrading fuses and installing additional devices and reclosers that allow power to be rerouted to adjacent lines when an outage occurs, minimizing the number of impacted customers.
- Installing TripSaver devices, which sense temporary abnormalities along power lines, such as a tree branch bouncing off lines, and automatically reenergize the line after the condition has passed without having to send a crew to investigate.
- Additional tree trimming and vegetation management along power lines.
The New Jersey Reliability Improvement Project is a two-phase effort to enhance reliability for customers on high-priority lines selected based on historical outage data. The first phase, which includes at least $95 million in upgrades, is set to be completed over the next three years. Second-phase work, which includes longer-duration projects, is targeted for completion by the end of 2028.
