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Wall Street JournalFirstEnergy's Unit Starts $5.1M Grid Upgrade Project in Northern N.J.
FirstEnergy Corporation FE announced that its subsidiary Jersey Central Power & Light (“JCP&L”) has begun construction work on a year-long project to upgrade overhead and install a new underground electric service lines in portions of Sussex County. The $5.1 million project is expected to be completed in November this year.
The work will take place along a power line running from a JCP&L substation in the Landing section of Roxbury Township. It is expected to benefit 1,700 customers in Roxbury, the Borough of Mount Arlington in western Morris County and the Borough of Hopatcong in southern Sussex County.
Key Details of FE’s Electric Grid Upgrade Project
In addition to enhanced tree trimming along the power line, the electric grid upgrades include installing nearly 2,000 ft. of underground wires in Roxbury Township. It also includes upgrading existing infrastructure with thicker, stronger poles and overhead wires that can safely carry more electricity and provide more resiliency in storms.
The company is also increasing the number of protective devices and reclosers that allow power to be rerouted to adjacent lines when an outage occurs, thereby minimizing the number of customers impacted. It also aims to install TripSaver devices, which sense temporary abnormalities along power lines, such as a tree branch bouncing off lines, and automatically reenergize the line after the condition has passed without having to send a crew for investigation.
The project is part of JCP&L's New Jersey Reliability Improvement Project, a two-phase initiative to improve customer reliability on high-priority lines chosen using past outage data. The first phase involves upgrades totaling at least $95 million over three years.
Benefits of the Project
In order to improve service reliability for its customers, the company supports robust overhead improvements and selective undergrounding. FE’s financial performance should improve as a result of this work, enabling it to better meet the customers' present and future energy needs.
Upgrading overhead and installing new underground electric service will lead to fewer outages during the storms, resulting in lower repair and maintenance expenses for the company. The possibility of providing uninterrupted electricity to customers even during severe weather conditions should enhance the company’s bottom line.
This project is part of FirstEnergy's grid evolution program, Energize365, which aims to invest $28 billion throughout its six-state footprint between 2025 and 2029 to build a smarter, more secure grid that can meet future challenges while providing the power customers need today.
Utilities’ Initiatives to Strengthen Infrastructure
In order to provide reliable services to their customers, utilities make systematic investments to upgrade transmission and distribution lines and develop new substations. The objective is to warrant a proper supply of electricity to millions of customers across the United States.
Along with FirstEnergy, other electric power companies like Dominion Energy D, Exelon Corporation EXC and Entergy Corporation ETR are also taking initiatives to strengthen their infrastructure.
Dominion plans to upgrade its electric infrastructure by installing smart meters and grid devices. It is also working on a strategic undergrounding project for 4,000 miles of distribution lines. The Virginia Commission has approved seven phases of the program, encompassing approximately 2,200 miles of converted lines and $1.3 billion in capital spending. These initiatives will increase the resilience of its operation.
D’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 13.59%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings per share (EPS) implies a year-over-year improvement of 22%.
Exelon invests substantially in infrastructure projects and plans to invest nearly $38 billion during 2025-2028 in regulated utility operations. The company is set to invest $21.7 billion in electric distribution and $12.6 billion in electric transmission in the 2025-2028 time frame to further enhance customer reliability.
EXC’s long-term earnings growth rate is 5.71%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 EPS implies year-over-year growth of 5.6%.
Entergy is focused on making systematic investments to further strengthen its infrastructure. ETR plans to invest $16 billion in transmission and distribution during 2025-2028. In January 2025, the Public Utility Commission of Texas unanimously approved Phase I of Entergy Texas’s Texas Future Ready Resiliency Plan, comprised of investments worth $335.1 million. It includes distribution and transmission hardening and modernization projects.
ETR’s long-term earnings growth rate is 9.46%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 EPS implies a year-over-year increase of 6.3%.
FE’s Stock Price Performance
In the past month, shares of FirstEnergy have lost 2.8% against the industry’s 1.3% growth.
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FE’s Zacks Rank
FirstEnergy currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).