In August 2003, a massive electric power outage was caused after a tree came into contact with a transmission line in Ohio. This incident left over 50 million people in the northeast United States and southeastern Canada without electric power. After the blackout, the United States Department of Energy issued a report which instructed the electric companies to develop vegetation management programs. After a comprehensive two year stakeholder process, New Jersey enacted a preliminary set of Vegetation Management rules in December 2006 in order to ensure consistency across New Jersey’s four electric distribution companies. These rules were re-adopted by the Board in February 2008 as part of an overall readoption of the Electric Service rules. The additional review accepted by the Board on May 8, 2008 is specific to Subchapter 9, Vegetation Management, and will include consideration of reduced requirements surrounding agricultural crops, as well as additional discretion for utilities within the Right of Way border zone.
Final Stakeholder Comments on July draft rule circulated by staff are due by
Stakeholder Initial Comment Deadline April 24, 2014 send all comments to