Jersey Central Power & Light Begins Electric Grid Upgrades in 3 Morris County Communities

Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy, has begun construction on infrastructure upgrades designed to enhance electric reliability for customers in three Morris County communities.

The work is expected to be completed in October 2025 and is part of JCP&L's New Jersey Reliability Improvement Project, an element of the company's rate review settlement approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in February.

The New Jersey Reliability Improvement Project is a two-phase effort to enhance reliability for customers on high-priority lines selected based on historical outage data. While the first phase, which includes at least $95 million in upgrades, is set to be completed over the next three years, the second-phase work, which includes longer-duration projects, is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2028.

The upgrades will take place along more than five miles of power lines in Chester, Washington and Roxbury townships. More than 2,100 JCP&L customers are expected to benefit from this work.

The upgrades include:

• Replacing existing infrastructure with thicker, stronger wires and poles to safely carry more electricity and provide more resiliency in storms.
• Upgrading fuses and installing additional devices and reclosers to allow power to be rerouted to adjacent lines when an outage occurs, minimizing the number of impacted customers.
• Installing TripSaver devices, which sense temporary abnormalities along power lines, such as a tree branch bouncing off lines, and automatically reenergize the line after the condition has passed without a need for investigation.
• Additional tree trimming and vegetation management along power lines.