Nearly 2,300 Jersey Central Power & Light workers are working 16-hour shifts in an effort to restore power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses during the ongoing blizzard in New Jersey, the utility company said.
In all, there are about 5,000 people working to restore power to more than 120,000 customers from the four major utility companies in New Jersey, Gov. Mike Sherrill said Monday morning. At the peak of the storm overnight, about 200,000 homes and businesses were in the dark, the governor said.
Coastal sections of Monmouth and Ocean counties are the hardest hit and do not have an estimated time of restoration yet, JCP&L spokesman Chris Hoenig said Monday.
The rest of the nearly 69,000 JCP&L customers without power can check the website for an estimated time when power will be restored.
Atlantic City Electric, which is working to restore power to more than 55,000 customers in South Jersey, couldn’t immediately be reached Monday morning.
PSE&G and Orange & Rockland have far fewer outages.
The 2,300 JCP&L workers on the job include about 1,700 line workers in addition to substation electricians, foresters, hazard responders and other support personnel, according to Hoenig.
JCP&L crews will be working 24 hours a day to restore power, though their efforts have been slowed by strong winds and bad road conditions.
“Road condition are treacherous at best so that is affecting response times,” Hoenig said. “Our crews are out there taking it safe. We’re not going to be setting any land speed records. Our crews will be working around the clock until the last customer is restored.”
Hoenig noted that JCP&L was prepared for the storm and had 2,000 workers mobilized before the first flakes flew.
A blizzard warning for all 21 counties runs until 6 p.m.
