MORRISTOWN, N.J., April 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jersey Central
Power & Light (JCP&L) announced today it has reached a
settlement with the staff of the New
Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), the NJ Division of
Rate Counsel and the New Jersey Large Energy Users Coalition
(NJLEUC) for its JCP&L Reliability Plus
Infrastructure Investment Program.
JCP&L Reliability Plus builds on service reliability
enhancements made by JCP&L in recent years with an additional
$97 million in targeted investments
aimed at addressing tree damage to the distribution system caused
by severe weather events and reducing the frequency and duration of
power outages. The work would be completed between June 1, 2019, and December
31, 2020.
The program was created following an analysis of JCP&L's
existing distribution system as well as lessons learned from
restoration efforts following recent severe weather events.
It includes investments beyond what is normally spent to enhance
JCP&L's service reliability, including more than 1,400 projects
to help enhance the reliability and resiliency of overhead
distribution lines, replace existing equipment with new smart
technology devices, and expand the vegetation management program to
address tree-related outages. Once the projects are complete,
JCP&L expects that customers will experience fewer sustained
outages under normal conditions as well as a reduction in outage
duration.
"We have taken great care to ensure that JCP&L
Reliability Plus focuses on the enhancements that have the
most reliability benefit for our more than one million New Jersey customers," said Jim Fakult, president of JCP&L. "The
enhancements implemented through this program will help reduce the
frequency of power outages, address tree damage during severe
weather events, provide more flexibility for operating the system
and help modernize our electric grid in New Jersey."
The cost of JCP&L Reliability Plus will be
recovered under a new rate provision included as part of the
distribution charge on a customer's bill. Over the course of
the program, the average JCP&L residential customer using 768
kilowatt hours per month is expected to see a 0.5 percent overall
rate increase, which equates to a monthly increase of about
50 cents.
Key JCP&L Reliability Plus projects include:
- Overhead circuit hardening and reliability – installing
new electronic fuses to reduce the duration of outages caused by
temporary obstructions; removal of overhanging limbs near JCP&L
power lines and equipment in identified areas.
- Distribution automation – installing technology that can
automatically detect damage on the system, safely isolate it and
quickly restore the majority of customers served on a line,
reducing the number of customers out of service until repairs are
made; adding additional communications equipment to aid real-time
monitoring of the distribution system to promote more rapid service
restoration.
- Substation reliability enhancement – installing flood
mitigation measures and enhanced equipment to harden substations,
making them less susceptible to storm damage; adding a mobile
substation that may be transported to an outage location to help
restore customers more rapidly while permanent repairs are
made.
JCP&L, a FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) subsidiary, serves 1.1
million New Jersey customers in
the counties of Burlington,
Essex, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union
and Warren. Follow JCP&L
on Twitter @JCP_L, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JCPandL or
online at www.jcp-l.com.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to safety, reliability and operational
excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one
of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving
customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, West Virginia,
Maryland and New York. The
company's transmission subsidiaries operate more than 24,500 miles
of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic
regions. Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp or
online at www.firstenergycorp.com.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release
includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 based on
information currently available. Unless the context requires
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"FirstEnergy" refer to FirstEnergy Corp. Forward-looking statements
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Forward-looking statements involve estimates, assumptions, known
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actual results, performance or achievements to be materially
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from commodity-based generation; the risks associated with the
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ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from
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strategy to operate and grow as a fully regulated business, to
execute our transmission and distribution investment plans, to
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legislative and regulatory developments at the federal and state
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compliance and enforcement activity; economic and weather
conditions affecting future operating results, such as significant
weather events and other natural disasters, and associated
regulatory events or actions; changes in assumptions regarding
economic conditions within our territories, the reliability of our
transmission and distribution system, or the availability of
capital or other resources supporting identified transmission and
distribution investment opportunities; changes in customers' demand
for power, including, but not limited to, the impact of state and
federal energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates;
changes in national and regional economic conditions affecting us
and/or our major industrial and commercial customers or others with
which we do business; the risks associated with cyber-attacks and
other disruptions to our information technology system that may
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identifiable information; the ability to comply with applicable
state and federal reliability standards and energy efficiency and
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environmental laws and regulations, including, but not limited to,
those related to climate change; changing market conditions
affecting the measurement of certain liabilities and the value of
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us to make additional contributions sooner, or in amounts that are
larger, than currently anticipated; the risks associated with the
decommissioning of the retired nuclear facility owned by
FirstEnergy subsidiaries; the risks and uncertainties associated
with litigation, arbitration, mediation and like proceedings; labor
disruptions by the unionized workforce of FirstEnergy subsidiaries;
changes to significant accounting policies; any changes in tax laws
or regulations, including the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, adopted
December 22, 2017, or adverse tax
audit results or rulings; the ability to access the public
securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with
our financial plans, the cost of such capital and overall condition
of the capital and credit markets affecting us; actions that may be
taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect either
our access to or terms of financing or our financial condition and
liquidity; and the risks and other factors discussed from time to
time in FirstEnergy's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
filings. Dividends declared from time to time on FirstEnergy's
common stock, and thereby on FirstEnergy's preferred stock, during
any period may in the aggregate vary from prior periods due to
circumstances considered by FirstEnergy's Board of Directors at the
time of the actual declarations. A security rating is not a
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or withdrawal at any time by the assigning rating agency. Each
rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating. These
forward-looking statements are also qualified by, and should be
read together with, the risk factors included in FirstEnergy's SEC
filings with the SEC, including but not limited to the most recent
Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form
10-Q, together with any subsequent Current Reports on Form 8-K. The
foregoing review of factors also should not be construed as
exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not
possible for management to predict all such factors, nor assess the
impact of any such factor on our business or the extent to which
any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ
materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.
We expressly disclaim any obligation to update or revise, except as
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