Video: JCP&L president says utility doing great job post-Irene

JCP&L President Don Lynch speaks with Morris Township Mayor H. Scott Rosenbush at press conference about power outages. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
JCP&L President Don Lynch speaks with Morris Township Mayor H. Scott Rosenbush at press conference about power outages. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
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Here is video of Wednesday’s press conference with JCP&L President Don Lynch. He spoke for about 20 minutes.

While acknowledging the frustrations of Greater Morristown residents who have been without electricity since Tropical Storm Irene last weekend, the executive emphasized the enormity of the storm and praised efforts by employees to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers across New Jersey.

The temporary loss of the flooded Ridgedale Avenue substation, which serves Morristown and Morris Township, is posing special challenges that he described.

Frankly, news was breaking so fast and furious on Wednesday that we have not had time to fully parse Don’s comments. Or for that matter, to digest everything in the next video, which features comments by Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty and Morris Township Mayor H. Scott Rosenbush.

But the power outages are of such intense interest that we figured some folks might want to watch these videos, which are presented in their entirety.

A guide to Don Lynch’s talk:

0:16 The worst storm in recent memory…

0:26 Extent of damage from Irene

0:35 Restored 500,000 customers so far in NJ

1:00 Understand and appreciate public frustration…doing everything we possibly can

1:50 Heavy flooding, trees down, roads impassable, safety concerns

3:23 Irene by the numbers: Incidents, repairs crews, etc.

4:00 Beware of downed wires

4:27 Working around the clock

Q & A

4:50 Best guess when Greater Morristown back on line?

Morristown substation…completely flooded…in 35 years with company never seen flooding like this. We have tried to engineer new solutions… We picked up 90 percent of customers yesterday through new solutions… will hopefully pick up the rest of those customers today.

5:45 Reports that pumps at substation not turned on?

Have not heard that… we installed flood walls years ago… flooding overcame flood walls… believe debris dammed up the river. If we had pumps in there, would not have handled water…four or five feet of water in substation.

6:33 What caused Morristown Medical Center to go offline Wednesday morning?

If there was issue there, we’ll address it, I’ll look into it…sometimes you have to take circuits out to energize another piece of it… part of restoration process.

7:42 What’s that map behind you?

JCP&L service territory…

8:22 When you refer to “Morristown” (in outage maps) does that include Morris Township?

Doesn’t have numbers…

9:22 Can you explain disparity between outage numbers from JCP&L online maps and company spokespersons?

Not aware of discrepancies… we have complex computer models… driven by people calling in to report outages

10:00 Do you intend to build higher flood walls for substation?

We’ll have to take a look at that… this higher flood level than ever experienced…

10:24 Is this a good place for a substation?

Think that location  great location

11:05 Explain who is out of power, and why: Substation vs. downed lines.

Lot of rain preceded storm…another 10 inches…no place for it to go. Lot of trees fall over…taking down poles and wires.

12:18 Can you improve communications with local officials; residents want better info?

We’ve been issuing press releases regularly….trying to get more detailed customers counts out…It’s a bit challenging… our network very complicated and very fluid…lot of this is innovative and creative…difficult to determine exactly which street is out and when they’re going to come in… we understand frustration, everyone wants more specific details… but with volume of customers a bit of a challenge. As get down to smaller numbers will be easier.

14:00 When will different counties–especially Morris–be fully restored?

Full restoration for majority customers by the end of the week….a few might be into the weekend.  Working all across entire territory restoring where we can…

15:10 Worst-case scenarios?  Cried wolf about restoration estimates?

Tried to avoid estimates… we really didn’t know. From beginning we said multiple-day storm… a fluid situation… over 400 hazard and damage assessors inspecting lines…complicated process…this is state of emergency…

19:00 Will these measures leave us better protected if Hurricane Katia strikes next month?

Worst storm ever hit us… all utilities on east coast same damage…we do lot to fortify our system during year… a good system. A hurricane of this magnitude challenges all utlities… I believe we’re doing a great job right now…500,000 restored in two days… pretty proud of our employees

READ MORE ABOUT IRENE

JCP&L President Don Lynch speaks with Morris Township Mayor H. Scott Rosenbush at press conference about power outages. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
JCP&L President Don Lynch speaks with Morris Township Mayor H. Scott Rosenbush at press conference about power outages. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

1 COMMENT

  1. Dear Mr. Lynch,
    Excuses, excuses. I live on Huntley Road in Holmdel, NJ. Up the streef from me is a single wire down which JCP&L has known about since at least Monday (giving you every benefit of the doubt); no power since Saturday evening. The tree branches that took down this single wire have all been removed from it since Tuesday. It would take all of about 30 mins. to fix this wire and restore power to this single street surronded by powered areas. We’re told it could be next week; yet I’ve seen repair trucks drive by within 1/2 mile of this street. I have tried to get your customer service reps.to put me in touuch with someone with authoity to get a truck over to this ‘simple’ repair – no substation, no flood – and have gotten ‘evasive b.s.” When I did finally get a promised return call from “Ms. Sanders” and promptly returned her voice mail, it is now 18+ hours and she has not called back. You should feel free to call me anytime from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at 908- 903-2006. Seems you’d want the easy jobs taken off the list to maximize the restored customer counts and relationships. Sincerely, Louis Nagy

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