As tens of thousands of New Jersey residents continue to deal with power outages following several days of extremely hot temperatures and powerful thunderstorms, Jersey Central Power & Light is urging customers to continue reporting outages directly, saying those reports remain the fastest and most reliable way to dispatch repair crews while the utility completes its smart meter rollout.

The clarification came in response to questions from TLS about whether JCP&L automatically detects widespread outages or depends on customer reports to identify problems on its system, after their outage map failed to show thousands of Lakewood area outages throughout Shabbos.

In response, a JCP&L spokesman told TLS while the utility has made significant progress deploying smart meters, customer outage reports remain an essential part of its restoration process.

“While we work to complete our smart meter integration, reporting outages to us still gives us the best, most accurate modeling to get crews out fastest,” he said.

The comments address concerns raised by residents who questioned whether outages might go unnoticed unless customers report them directly.

According to the spokesman, smart meters already play an important role during storm restoration, even before the system’s full integration is complete.

He said the utility can remotely “ping” smart meters to determine whether electric service has been restored, identify customers experiencing voltage issues, and verify outages affecting individual homes.

JCP&L began rolling out smart meters across its service territory in 2023 as part of a broader effort to modernize its electric distribution system.

“As we get later in the restoration process and get down to single-customer outages, being able to ping to confirm an outage allows us to move crews most efficiently,” he added, explaining that it allows the utility company to dispatch crews more quickly while smart meter integration continues.

For that reason, residents experiencing a power outage are encouraged to report it directly to JCP&L to help ensure restoration crews are dispatched as efficiently as possible, particularly during widespread storm events.

Smart meters differ from traditional electric meters in that they allow for two-way communication and automated meter reading. They also help ensure accurate billing each month by virtually eliminating estimated readings. Customers will be able track energy consumption to better manage their electricity costs and reduce energy usage.