Dominion Participates In Temporary
Voltage Reduction
RICHMOND, Va. – In conjunction with Dominion
(NYSE: D), PJM initiated a 5 percent reduced voltage Wednesday afternoon in
the Northern Virginia area to ensure system reliability and help offset extremely
heavy electricity demand in the region.
The voltage reduction, which began at approximately
2 p.m., is not expected to affect customers and should be terminated later today.
Dominion and PJM
jointly are asking customers to take voluntary steps to conserve energy during
the period of unusually high demand. These include:
Close curtains and blinds to keep out the sun and retain
cooler air inside.
Postpone using major electric appliances such as stoves,
dishwashers and clothes dryers until the cooler evening hours.
If health permits, set your air conditioner thermostat
higher than usual.
Turn off non-essential electric appliances and equipment.
The voltage reduction was necessary to support
the stability of the electricity infrastructure that serves the Northern Virginia,
Washington, D.C. and Baltimore areas. Those major metropolitan areas are an
extremely dense urban area and comprise one of the largest electricity load
centers on the East Coast.
Dominion’s 2.2 million customers in Virginia
and northeast North Carolina have set electricity demand records for the last
two days. Tuesday’s peak demand reached 18,360 megawatts — a record
for the company. That peak is expected to broken today.
Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers
of energy, with an energy portfolio of about 28,100 megawatts of generation,
about 6 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves and 7,900
miles of natural gas transmission pipeline. Dominion also operates the nation's
largest underground natural gas storage system with more than 965 billion cubic
feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in nine states.
For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.
