One Third of New Jersey Residents Impacted by PSE&G Plans

If you live in the state of New Jersey then there is a one in three chance that you are going to be affected by a plan that PSE&G has to upgrade transmission lines throughout the state. The goal of the so-called North Central Reliability Project is to improve energy service in the state. Although the company says that customers’ power won’t be affected, it’s always hard to make such a guarantee with a massive project like this one.

PSE&G’s proposed plan includes the following changes:

• Transmission lines will be revamped and improved across 35 miles of the state in, primarily central and Northern New Jersey. The distribution lines leading directly to customers’ homes should not be affected.


• Older electrical towers will be replaced with new taller monopoles.


• The result will be an upgrade to a more powerful system of 230,000 volts compared to the 138,000 volt system in place there today.


• If the upgrade is successful this should lead to more reliable energy service for PSE&G customers in this area.

This plan is designed specifically to help support the increased energy use in the area that has occurred over the years as residents have adopted energy-using technologies like personal computers. It is also designed with an eye towards future energy use including the likelihood that some customers will adopt energy-abusing electric cars in the relatively near future.

As with all types of construction, the time during which the construction occurs will be inconvenient to some people. At the end of construction, these people should have better energy service. If the plan is approved then work will begin on the project next year. Customers will be notified via mail if the work will affect them (but only if they live within 1000 feet of an area where work will be done). 

The project is expected to cost $336 million dollars. It has not been stated whether this will lead to increased NJ electricity rates for customers in the future.

Source: http://chatham.patch.com/articles/pseg-to-upgrade-transmission-lines-4#pdf-5343745