On November 7, 1995, voters in Aberdeen, NJ, went to the polls to elect local and state officials. Also on the ballot were public questions (em including one asking Aberdeen residents whether the township should build or acquire electric transmission and distribution facilities. Eighty-six percent of the voters nixed the idea. What follows is a case study of how the issue got on the ballot and how the local utility defeated the effort. The story reveals what it takes to defeat a municipalization drive: support from municipal government, the public, and your union. Such a drive also requires a cohesive, grassroots message.
Anchor Challenges
Aberdeen, NJ, is a bedroom community of about 17,000. Many residents commute to New York City, 25 miles away; few work in town. In fact, it was Anchor Glass Container, Aberdeen's single manufacturing business, that initiated the municipalization effort.
Only 10 to 15 percent of
Anchor's workers live in the township. Anchor uses about 40 percent of the township's electric demand and pays about a third of the $12 million the township pays in annual electric costs. Jersey Central Power & Light Co. (JCP&L), an investor-owned utility serving nearly a million customers in northern and central New Jersey, has been the town's provider for 75 years. The Aberdeen Township Council, the local governing body, consists of six at-large members plus an elected mayor. Four of these seven council seats were on the ballot in the referendum vote; three incumbents were running for reelection.