Can JCP&L Deal With Big Outages Without IBEW S-U3 (New Jersey) Skilled Workers

Can JCP&L deal with big outage?

State concerned because of strike
Published in the Asbury Park Press 02/24/05
By DAVID P. WILLIS, BUSINESS WRITER

Is Jersey Central Power & Light Co. equipped to handle a major power outage with 1,350 workers out on strike? The state Board of Public Utilities wants to know, and so far it is not satisfied with the utility's response.

The BPU is giving the utility, which supplies electricity to most of Monmouth and Ocean counties, until today to provide more information or face a possible subpoena or other action, BPU President Jeanne M. Fox said after a meeting Wednesday.

"We just want to make sure that customers' reliability, in case of a major outage, would be what it should be," Fox said.

JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano said the company intends to cooperate fully. "We have cooperated fully with the board and have provided them with daily updates throughout the strike," he said.

JCP&L workers, including line workers, meter readers and clerks, have been on strike since Dec. 8 after contract talks fell apart.

Members will vote on Saturday on a "one-time" contract offer by the company, a proposal the union's leadership does not support.

Meanwhile, Fox said some of JCP&L's responses to its questions about reliability have been vague. For instance, the company said 140 JCP&L managers, as well as those from other FirstEnergy utilities, would be available in the event of an emergency. Also, the utility said it could call contractors in.

Before the strike, 494 people were available to handle major outages. The utility also could call on assistance from other companies. "We were basically asking how you are going to make up for that," Fox said.

Select BPU staff members need to know names of contractors so they can be called and the contracts verified, Fox said. The staff wants "hard information," she said. "I just need to know how long it will take to get from there to here if we have an outage."

Morano said some of the information is confidential, but the company will give the board what it wants.

"If this (information) was to become public, then the availability of those resources would be threatened, which would make those resources unavailable," Morano said. "We are hopeful that it remains confidential."

Service centers cited

The board's staff also wants more information about the company's customer service centers, including those in Toms River and Allenhurst, which have been closed since the strike began.

"We have some concerns about customer service centers that have been shut down," Fox said. At those centers, customers could pay bills, make payment arrangements or sign up for new service.

"They might be providing some alternative services," Fox said. "There might be a lot less people taking advantage of them because they don't know how to."

Morano said 93 percent of payments are not made in business offices. Payments can be made over the Internet or at an authorized payment center, he said. Customers also can use the Web to sign up for new service, he added.

In recent weeks, the company, including JCP&L President Steve Morgan, and union leaders have met in closed sessions with the BPU to discuss reliability issues during the strike.

Union encouraged

The union has said it has been concerned about the overall condition of JCP&L's system during the strike. The company has said it is successfully using managers for priority maintenance and outage restoration.

"The union is encouraged by the actions of the BPU," said Jack Moriarty, a spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. "It is clear to us that the BPU has finally started to listen to the issues raised by the union."