Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires electric public utilities to report certain information concerning power outages on their Internet websites and to BPU.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning electric public utility service and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section:
“Board” means the Board of Public Utilities or any successor agency.
“Electric public utility” means a public utility, as that term is defined in R.S.48:2-13, that distributes electricity to end users within this State.
“Power outage” means any disruption in service provided by an electric public utility.
b. In the event that there is a power outage, the electric public utility that is responsible for providing the service affected by the power outage shall publish, at a minimum, the following information on the electric public utility’s Internet website about the power outage:
(1) the geographic area affected by the power outage;
(2) the start time of the power outage;
(3) the number of customers affected by the power outage;
(4) the number of all other ongoing power outages in the State;
(5) the estimated time until restoration of service; and
(6) the cause of the power outage once ascertained.
c. The electric public utility shall ensure the information required pursuant to subsection b. of this section is updated regularly until service is restored.
d. The electric public utility shall report the information published on the electric public utility’s Internet website pursuant to subsection b. of this section to the board within 30 days of restoration of electric service after a power outage.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires electric public utilities to publish certain information about power outages on the electric public utility’s Internet website and to report the information to the Board of Public Utilities (board).
In the event of a power outage, the electric public utility responsible for providing the service affected by the power outage is required to publish information on the electric public utility’s Internet website about the power outage, including, but not limited to: the geographic area affected by the power outage; the start time of the power outage; the number of customers affected by the power outage; the number of current ongoing power outages in the State; the estimated time until service restoration; and the cause of the power outage.
In addition, the bill requires the electric public utility to ensure the information provided on the utility’s Internet website is updated regularly until service is restored and to report the information provided on its Internet website to the board within 30 days of restoration of electric service after a power outage.
Currently, much of the information required by this bill is already provided on the electric public utilities’ Internet websites. However, there is no requirement in the law that they do so. Without this requirement, this valuable information can be removed at will.