Dominion Restores Power To More Than
Two-Thirds Of Customers
RICHMOND, Va. - Dominion has restored power to more than two-thirds
of the total 1.8 million customers who lost electric service as a result of
Hurricane Isabel.
As of 2 p.m. Tuesday—the fifth day of restoration activities—less
than 600,000 customers remain without power in Virginia and northeastern North
Carolina. The lights are back on for more than 1.2 million customers who lost
their lights when Isabel swept ashore Thursday and brought down trees and power
lines. Dominion remains on target to have power restored to 75 percent of the
total customers affected by Thursday.
"We've accomplished a lot in just a few days," said
Jimmy D. Staton, senior vice president-Operations. "We know we still have
a lot of work to do. We're going to keep going night and day and get everybody
back on just as fast as we can."
A strong band of thunderstorms, including tornadoes, moved
through the service area early Tuesday, creating about 40,000 new outages. Crews
also worked to restore service to those customers. Some of this activity was
hindered slightly by heavy rains and minor, localized flooding.
Among the highlights Tuesday:
All transmission lines are now operational. Isabel knocked
out 62 transmission lines; the final three were restored Monday evening. Transmission
lines carry electricity from power stations to main substations and between
main substations.
Service has been restored to all hospitals in the 30,000-square-mile
service area.
Of the 40 critical water-pumping stations identified by
municipal authorities, power has been restored to 39, with the remaining station
expected to be back on tonight.
The company is working with localities to get the power
back on at schools throughout the rest of the service area. Virtually all
schools in Northern Virginia have power.
More specific information is being posted on the company's
Web site, www.dom.com.
For example, customers can now see, by region and then by neighborhood, where
and when crews are working. This information will be updated daily.
The total workforce expanded to more than 11,000. The restoration
effort took on an international flavor Tuesday with the arrival of crews from
Hydro Quebec in Canada. More 2,600 of the total workforce are from electric
utilities in Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia,
South Carolina, Florida and North Carolina.
Dominion's customer service center has handled more than 1
million calls during this event. Additional information about individual restoration
times is being fed into the computer system daily so that customers can call
the 1-888-667-3000 customer service number and get more individual restoration
information. Information is not available for every single customer yet, but
the amount of information is growing steadily every day.
Dominion Tuesday donated $50,000 to the Red Cross, earmarked
for Hurricane Isabel restoration efforts in Virginia and North Carolina.
"We're doing this publicly because we hope it will stimulate
donations from other companies and other people," said Staton. "The
Red Cross is providing all types of assistance—to the people who need it
the most and need it badly—and they need everyone's support."
Dominion also received help from Operation Blessing International,
the Virginia Beach-based humanitarian arm of CBN. Operation Blessing provided
three refrigerated trailers for Dominion to store water and ice for crews working
around the clock to cut trees, set poles and string new power lines.
Dominion remains concerned about customer safety, especially
from downed power lines and improper use of generators. Company officials note
that unless installed professionally, generators should not be connected to
the whole house electrical service. Improperly installed, the electricity could
backfeed onto Dominion's power lines and injure line crews. Report downed power
lines by calling 1-888-667-3000.
Dominion also called on customers to check on elderly relatives
and neighbors or others with special needs who may not have their power restored.
Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy,
with a diversified and integrated energy portfolio that includes 24,000 megawatts
of generation and 6.3 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves.
Dominion also serves 5 million retail energy customers in nine states. For more
information about Dominion, including dynamic updates on power restoration,
visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.
