Residents of the winding two-mile road linking Delaware Road and Knowlton Road have experienced at least 16 power outages in 2022, ranging from a few hours to a few days, and they are getting fed up.
The power company said it was sending a reliability engineer to the site to evaluate the problems, to be followed up by a report.
JCP&L has acknowledged there is a problem and sent a letter to township officials listing 16 power outages at the time of the correspondence in September.
One of the more recent outages on Sept. 22 gave the road a double-dose of darkness when power went out, was restored, then went out again. Residents noted that there was not wind or rain that day, which has been the case with most of the blackouts this year.
A lengthy outage in July was attributed to a heavy thunderstorm that rocked the area and knocked out power to Lime Kiln Road and many other areas of Knowlton Township. Most of the other outages, however, have occurred with no inclement weather.
Mayor Adel Starrs said she is equally fed up with the situation and has gotten state Sen. Steven Oroho to pressure JCP&L to find a solution. Starrs added that JCP&L plans to trim trees near the power lines and finds this delay unacceptable.
“We are doing everything we can to get them to move this up,” Starrs said.
In the meantime, she urged residents to continue to lean on JCP&L and to contact the state Board of Public Utilities. She also encourages residents to attend the Oct. 27 when JCP&L representative Amy Overman will address the issues.
Joe Phalon, Contributing Writer
Joe was lured out of retirement by the opportunity to be a part of the Ridge View Echo. During a decades-long career in publishing and journalism, he has covered government on many levels from local school boards to the United States Supreme Court.
Along the way, Joe has worked at American Lawyer Magazine, The National Law Journal and The Record among other publications, and as the Press Officer of Columbia Law School. His work has been recognized with several first place awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the New Jersey Press Association.
Being part of the Ridge View Echo brings Joe back to his roots and the kind of news coverage he loves: Telling the stories of people and local communities as well as keeping an eye on how their money is spent by their government officials.
Joe lives in Blairstown with his wife Rose, the founder of Quilting for a Cause, and their two wiener dogs. He is an artist in his spare time.
