Knowlton Tires of Static From Electric Utility

July 30, 2024

Bad weather is too often followed by power outages in Knowlton, officials say. Photo by Joe Phalon.

The powers that be in Knowlton continue to be shocked—shocked—to be confronted by more frequent power outages.

Mayor Debra Shipps, for one, said her fuse is getting shorter each day with the current situation and is demanding the local power utility, Jersey Central Power & Light, resolve the issue.

Matters came to a head in June when a series of thunderstorms knocked out power across Knowlton and surrounding communities, but did not get restored for five days or more, particularly in the Columbia section of the township.

But it doesn’t take a big storm to put the lights out.

“Even a very mild storm causes problems now,” Shipps said.

And residents have described recent power outages happening for no apparent reason at all, under sunny skies with little to no wind.

The problem is that when there are widespread outages, Shipps explained, towns like Knowlton get bumped to the end of the line.

“Four hundred people are not enough to come out immediately,” Shipps said.

Shipps said she contacted State Sen. Doug Steinhardt and Gov. Phil Murphy’s office to get the utility’s attention.

Shipps was not satisfied with the response of JCP&L in getting the lights on during the June storms. And, as she pointed out, getting the lights back on is just the beginning as a nursing home in Columbia went without power for days, and Shipps said the utility was indifferent to the problem.

Chris Hoenig, a spokesperson for JCP&L, said that at the height of the storm, over 100,000 customers were without power and that more 1,000 line workers were on the job along with many out-of-state workers.

Shipps said she understood the scope of the June storms, but Knowlton did not get as much as a response to their pleas for help. In addition, arrangements were promised to provide ice and bottled water locally—as it was in other locations—but that never happened.

At a township committee meeting in April, Amy Overman, a representative of JCP&L, who is also tasked with advocating for the utility’s customers in Northwest Jersey, detailed improvements and upgrades, including extensive tree-trimming, that are in progress for the power grid and an unscientific poll afterward suggested most people felt reassured with a dash of skepticism.

Shipps said, earlier in July, that Overman has been a very good advocate for Knowlton, but she was away during the storm.

As a short-term fix, Shipps is asking JCP&L to send a crew to the Knowlton area when severe weather is expected. The utility confirmed that crews are often stationed in key places in anticipation of outages, and Shipps would like Knowlton to be one of them.

Joe Phalon, Contributing Writer

Contributing Writer

Joe brings decades of journalism experience to the Ridge View Echo, covering everything from local school boards to the U.S. Supreme Court. A former National Law Journal editor and Columbia Law School press officer, he now enjoys telling community stories in Blairstown, where he lives with his wife, Rose, and their two dachshunds.