Residents to Question JCP&L Response to Sandy

With the hope of getting answers about JCP&L's poor response in the restoration of power for customers in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, Bridgewater resident Neha Pallod Limaye has scheduled a meeting with officials at the company's Morristown headquarters.

The meeting will be held Friday from 10 a.m. to noon for anyone interested in speaking to JCP&L officials about their response, or lack thereof, following the hurricane, and their plans for change in the future.

Limaye initially started a petition to get JCP&L out of Bridgewater about a week after the hurricane, and also created a Facebook group to bring together people from across the state who were disappointed by the performance of the power company following Superstorm Sandy.

The Facebook group currently has more than 600 members.

And from there, Limaye put together an email to be sent to JCP&L President Don Lynch, Gov. Chris Christie and BPU President Bob Hanna to request a meeting to get answers on management and future plans for dealing with these kinds of storms.

Previously planned meetings didn't pan out, but Limaye said it is official for this Friday.

Friday's meeting with be a Q&A session between JCP&L executives and the public on 10 questions that Limaye put together based on concerns from members of the Facebook group.

Questions include:

• How did JCP&L prepare for Superstorm Sandy?
• How was damage assessed in the days following the storm?
• How were customer reports and calls logged and why were so many not logged correctly?
• Why was JCP&L unresponsive to customers and local officials, and what is being done to improve communication in the future?
• When is old equipment going to be replaced with new?

As for those planning to attend, Limaye said she needs to submit a list of people attending the meeting so they can be admitted into the building.

Anyone interested in attending the meeting should send an email to jcpl.meeting@gmail.com by Tuesday.

Limaye said in her post on the Facebook page that the questions and concerns are being directed at JCP&L the company, not individuals or crews that did work around the clock to restore power.

"Our concerns are directed toward the processes and executions that JCP&L has in place from an organizational perspective," she said in the post. "We know these processes failed and we, the paying customers of JCP&L, would like to know why they failed and how they will be changed going forward."

"Let's get answers to our questions," she continued. "Let's get to the bottom of what went wrong during Sandy, so history does not have to repeat itself, at least not by JCP&L."