Dominion Restores Power To Nearly 80 Percent
Of Customers Affected By Isabel
RICHMOND, Va. - Dominion Virginia Power has restored
service to more than 1.4 million customers, 79 percent of those affected
by Hurricane Isabel, after six days of intense work with its largest restoration
workforce ever.
Jimmy D. Staton, senior vice president-Operations, said
the company surpassed its goal of restoring 75 percent of the customers
in Virginia and North Carolina by today. Less than 390,000 customers remained
without power as of early today.
"We are restoring power to customers at a rate
that is twice as fast as any previous restoration effort this company
has ever mounted," Staton said. "Our best previous performance
averaged 100,000 customers restored per day. In this Hurricane Isabel
event - which has caused far greater damage than any storm in the company's
100-year history - we've averaged about 200,000 customers restored per
day."
In other storm-related highlights, Staton said:
90 percent of customers will be restored by late Sunday
night. (Sept. 28)
Virtually all customers should be restored by Friday, Oct.
3. More than 1.8 million have been affected by Hurricane Isabel.
All customers still out should be able to get individual
estimated restoration dates by Saturday afternoon. This information will be
made available through the company automated voice response system at 1-888-667-3000.
Suppliers are working around the clock to get new supplies
to keep up with the fast pace of the restoration effort. Approximately $1
million in new inventory arrived Wednesday.
The restoration workforce now numbers more than 11,600.
That includes 3,000 contract line personnel from 18 companies; 2,600 linemen
from 20 different utilities; 1,600 tree trimmers; 1,700 Dominion Virginia
Power linemen; and 2,700 Dominion support personnel working behind the scenes
to plan the work and keep crews supplied, fed, and lodged.
As work is completed in Northern Virginia, crews will begin
moving to the worst affected areas in Central Virginia and Tidewater.
All line crews in the field stood down for a very short
time this morning to review safe work procedures and emphasize the importance
of safety.
Dominion's customer service center has handled more than 1.4
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.
Dominion continues to urge customers to stay away from downed
power lines and 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.
