After ratepayers have subsidized billions of dollars to improve the resiliency of the power grid since Superstorm Sandy, more than 100,000 households remain without power almost 72 hours after a tropical storm impacted New Jersey.
The fifteen members of the Senate Republican caucus sent the following letter to New Jersey Board of Public Utilities President Joseph Fiordaliso calling for strengthening the resilience of the State’s electrical power grid and formulating comprehensive plans for emergency responses in the future.
August 7, 2020
Dear President Fiordaliso,
As you are well aware, New Jersey was recently hit by Tropical Storm Isaias. While the storm initially knocked out power to nearly 1.5 million residents, it is our understanding that days later, hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans are still without power. This is one of several storms over the past several years that has caused widespread power outages and wreckage throughout the state.
We commend the hardworking men and women who have come from all over to help New Jersey rebuild after this storm. We appreciate the efforts of everyone working night and day to bring power back to the hundreds of thousands of homes still without power, but we must do more. We must demand accountability from the utility companies, and ensure that plans are put in place to prevent mass power outages like this from occurring in the future.
We write to ask you and the entire Board of Public Utilities to take swift action to require utility companies in the state to create emergency response plans to ensure a fast and effective response to storms. Further, it is critical that utilities begin to take proactive actions that will help prevent any disruption in service in the first place. Finally, we ask that you require the implementation of emergency communications plans so the residents of New Jersey are informed of power outages, updates, and other critical information in a timely manner.
Again, we are extremely grateful for the hard work of those who are out on the frontline restoring power to residents. We realize we are all working toward ensuring the safety and health of our fellow residents, which is why we believe it is so important to demand accountability and responsiveness from the utilities operating in the state.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Thomas Kean
Leader
Steven Oroho
Budget Officer
Kristin Corrado
Conference Leader
Joe Pennacchio
Whip
Robert Singer
Deputy Leader
Chris Brown
Deputy Conference Leader
Kip Bateman
Deputy Whip
Anthony M. Bucco
Senator – District 25
Gerald Cardinale
Senator – District 39
Christopher Connors
Senator – District 9
Michael Doherty
Senator – District 23
James Holzapfel
Senator – District 10
Declan O’Scanlon
Senator – District 13
Michael Testa
Senator – District 1
Samuel Thompson
Senator – District 12
I want every power company that took bailout money to upgrade the power grid to open their books. I want to see how much of the bailout money went into the upgrade and how much money was diverted to other areas. How much went to pay raises or bonuses for management. Anything that the money was used for that did not directly go into the power grid must be returned to the tax payers. The stockholders make money in the good times then they should be charged for the repairs and up keep that they are making money on.
Hey politicians “proactive actions” are called preventive maintenance, that is what we pay our monthly bills for.
Everyone wants to study this and all problems to death. Stop the studies and do something.
It’s election season all this letter is voter pandering, and all this letter will accomplish is rate increases under the guise of being equipment.