“Reliability, Preparedness and Storm Response Act of 2018” Advances

Bill Sharpens Accountability of Public Utilities During Storm Outages

TRENTON – Legislation that would require public utilities to annually provide information to the Board of Public Utilities on their plans to prepare for and respond to emergencies was approved today by the Senate Economic Growth Committee.  Sponsored by Senators Linda R. Greenstein, Nilsa Cruz-Perez, Joseph Pennacchio and Shirley K. Turner, the bill would also increase penalties for public utilities that fail to meet certain performance standards in their emergency response.

The bill, an updated committee substitute entitled the “Reliability, Preparedness and Storm Response Act of 2018,” would mandate the BPU to develop and enforce electric public utilities performance benchmarks for service reliability, disruption preparedness and communications, with similar standards for other public utilities, require public utilities to develop and submit storm response plans with the BPU, and increase the penalties for public utilities who fail to meet proper standards in restoring service after emergency situations.

“Climate change is a stern teacher, and one of its most painful lessons is that we have to do a better job preparing for storm outages and protecting utility consumers from prolonged hardship,” said Senator Greenstein (D-Mercer/Middlesex).  “This bill provides a process for that and adds incentives for utility companies to offer efficient, effective remedies during emergencies.”

The combined bill, S-719/889/2221, would require that all electric public utilities to annually file an emergency response plan with the BPU. The plan would have to include information on the utilities’ strategies to respond to the storms, to prioritize power restoration efforts, to preserve the safety of their crews, and to communicate with government officials and the public during emergencies. Other public utilities would also be required to annually file a service reliability plan and an emergency communication plan, including similar items. The BPU would review the plans and would be allowed to order modifications if necessary. Failure to file a plan by May 15 would expose the public utility to a fine of $1,000 per day of delay.

“Last month, two powerful nor’easter storms hit New Jersey and caused more than 300,000 power outages,” said Senator Turner (D-Hunterdon/Mercer).  “While it’s not uncommon for major weather events to cause outages, tens of thousands of households were left without power for almost a week due to the lackluster response of certain public utility companies.  We can do better.”

On or before May 15 each year, electric public utilities would be also required to submit a review of their strategies to mitigate potential flooding of substations constructed within flood hazard areas, to mitigate snow and windstorm damages and to handle vegetation management.  The review would be required to include the feasibility of different mitigation strategies including timeframes to implement the recommended measures and the cost estimates for each scenario considered.

“With so-called ‘100-year storms’ ravaging our state on a regular basis, residents have become accustomed to seeing uprooted trees, downed power lines and flooding.  If individual households have plans in place to ready themselves for these occurrences, shouldn’t our utility providers?” asked Senator Cruz-Perez (D-Camden/Gloucester).

Failure to implement emergency plans would expose the utilities to a BPU-determined civil penalty not exceeding $25,000 per day of the violation and not exceeding $2 million for any related series of events, with all monies channeled to a non-lapsing, special revenue fund.  This “Board of Public Utilities Civil Penalty Fund” would be used to award grants to municipalities affected by major service outages for the purpose of maintaining public rights of way located near public utility service infrastructure, and to otherwise improve public utility service quality and reliability in New Jersey. Current law only sets these administrative penalties between $100 and $250 per day of the violation.

The bill was approved with a 4-0 vote.