N.J. keeping tabs on daily utility outages
MARCH 16, 2014, 12:07 AM
BY JEAN RIMBACH AND DAVE SHEINGOLD
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD
Thousands of routine power outages in New Jersey — caused by everything from faulty equipment to brittle tree branches to wayward animals — are being tracked by state regulators for the first time as electric utilities provide an unprecedented look at their day-to-day operations.
The gathering of detailed reports reflects an effort by the state Board of Public Utilities to enhance its oversight of the state’s electric distribution companies.
The filings do not include data on such headline-grabbing events as Superstorm Sandy and other major disruptions, which are documented in other reports kept by the BPU. Rather, the newly released data give the public a first glimpse of smaller problems — where and why they start, how many customers are left in the dark and for how long — even when nothing extraordinary is happening. The nearly minute-by-minute catalogs provide some of the most detailed information yet of trouble on the electrical grid, even on problems that affect just one customer.
Stephanie Brand, director of the state Division of Rate Counsel, whose office advocates for consumers in utility matters, says this gives the BPU a way “to identify the poorest performing areas of the distribution system.”
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-keeping-tabs-on-daily-utility-outages-1.743344#sthash.ERG8lzzZ.dpuf
