Additional Crews Join Jersey Central Power & Light in Storm Restoration Efforts

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Sept. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2,900 Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) and FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) employees on the ground in New Jersey handling restoration work from Hurricane Irene are being joined today and tomorrow by more than 100 additional utility line personnel and contractors.

Some of the additional workers headed to New Jersey are assisting as a result of multiple mutual assistance groups to which FirstEnergy belongs. These workers have completed restoration work in other states and are now available to assist JCP&L with the restoration process. As crews and support personnel from other FirstEnergy utilities wrap up storm restoration in Pennsylvania, they are also being deployed to assist efforts in the hardest hit JCP&L territories.

Service already has been restored to approximately 600,000 of the 670,000 JCP&L customers who lost power as a result of Hurricane Irene. The majority of the remaining customers should be restored by the weekend, with full restoration by early next week.

"Earlier this week, flooding significantly hampered our efforts to assess damage in parts of our service territory. Now that flooding is subsiding and hazards and debris are being cleared, our crews have been able to reach and restore service in many previously inaccessible areas," said JCP&L President Donald M. Lynch. "The additional personnel will further aid our efforts to restore power to all customers safely and efficiently.

"We understand the frustration and inconvenience faced by customers who remain without power. We are working around the clock, making every effort to restore service as quickly as possible," said Lynch.

While most JCP&L customers will see power restored by the weekend, many of the outages associated with Hurricane Irene are isolated and will require a significant number of repairs to bring small numbers of customers and individual homes back in service.

For updated information on hurricane restoration news, current outages, FirstEnergy's storm restoration process and tips for staying safe after a storm, go to www.firstenergycorp.com.

JCP&L serves 1.1 million customers in 13 New Jersey counties.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence.  Its 10 electric distribution companies comprise the nation's largest investor-owned electric system.  Its diverse generating fleet features non-emitting nuclear, scrubbed baseload coal, natural gas, and pumped-storage hydro and other renewables, and has a total generating capacity of approximately 23,000 megawatts.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.