Long-suffering electric utility customers in Knowlton had an opportunity this week to bring their concerns about frequent power outages directly to Jersey Central Power & Light, but unlike last year’s amped-up crowd, residents this year conducted themselves in a more neutral manner.
At the March 9 Township Committee meeting, Amy Overman, local engagement specialist with JCP&L, updated residents on infrastructure upgrades that will provide more redundancy in the power grid.
“Tonight, I’m going to focus on the distribution side, which is your substations and the different wires that you see in front of your house and poles,” Overman said.
Knowlton is served by four distinct circuits, Overman explained, and the circuit that serves the Columbia neighborhood and surrounding areas is getting a major fix that is expected to be in place by the end of 2026.
While the entire township continues to experience frequent power failures, Columbia continues to be hit hard. One resident at the meeting described losing power at least 14 times in 2025 with outages lasting up to 48 hours.
While some failures have been attributed to winter storms, residents have long complained of lengthy outages during perfectly fine weather.
Overman said the Columbia area will benefit from major upgrades to the transmission line from Metropolitan Edison on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, which supplies the Columbia circuit, targeted to be in place by the end of the year.
“We want to add lines for redundancy, and then we’re going to be completing the project all the way through to the New Jersey side to Columbia,” Overman said. “That should be driving down the outages in Columbia, and we’re building redundancy.”
About 300 customers in the Kittatinny circuit in the northern portion of the township should be seeing improvement soon, Overman said.
“We’re basically upgrading customers to a completely new circuit that we’re refurbishing and redoing,” Overman said. “It’s about 80 percent complete, and we’re looking to put it in service as soon as possible this year.”
The improvements include the installation of trip savers, essentially fuses that can reset themselves and better pinpoint power outages to their source, such as a fallen tree, avoiding widespread failures caused by isolated incidents, Overman said.
Accelerated tree maintenance will be taking place this year as well, she said.
Overman is the outreach specialist for North Warren towns including Knowlton. She usually speaks before the Township Committee each spring explaining projects and their progress. She is also the main contact and advocate for Knowlton. Mayor Debra Shipps said Overman has always been responsive during emergencies.
Residents at the meeting Monday, were optimistic but are keeping their enthusiasm grounded until they see reasons to be positive.
One good sign, perhaps, was the genteel reception Overman received this year from residents. Last year Overman faced a pretty tough room with customers still smarting from recent outages.
It also helped that Shipps read the riot act before public comments and questions.
“I ask that you be respectful. If you are not respectful, this comments will be cut off,” she said. “We will not have a repeat of last year.”
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.
- Joe Phalon, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/joe-phalon-contributing-writer/
- Joe Phalon, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/joe-phalon-contributing-writer/
- Joe Phalon, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/joe-phalon-contributing-writer/
- Joe Phalon, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/joe-phalon-contributing-writer/
