RICHMOND VA: (Rocktown Now) – Dominion Power is reporting power outages throughout their service area as a result of the winter storm. According to Dominion, nearly 8,000 Dominion Energy resources, contractors, and support personnel are fully mobilized for the storm in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Our crews will work around the clock to restore power as safely and quickly as possible. We are actively adding additional resources, including crews from contractors and peer utilities in other states.
This is a severe storm, and it will cause significant and widespread power outages across most of our service territory beginning this afternoon and into this evening and tomorrow morning as ice accumulation builds. As of 11:00 a.m., approximately 13,000 customers have lost power from the initial precipitation. Crews and operations centers have been working throughout the day to restore power.
Ice accumulation greater than 0.25 inches is the greatest concern. It will cause extensive damage to trees, power lines and utility poles, as well as extremely difficult travel conditions for restoration crews. The most significant impacts will be in Central and Southside Virginia, parts of Northern Virginia, and inland areas of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.
Our customers should prepare for a gradual, multi-day restoration effort. Icy road conditions and blocked roads from fallen trees will make some areas difficult to reach for at least 24-48 hours, which will extend the power restoration effort over multiple days.
We are prioritizing power restoration for hospitals, schools, water treatment facilities and other critical community services, as well as areas with the largest number of outages. We are also closely coordinating with state and local emergency management agencies to ensure resources are available for road clearing.
The Dominion Energy mobile app is the best way to report outages and track restoration. Individual estimated restoration times are being updated as crews assess damage at each location. We ask for our customers’ patience as it will take time for crews to arrive at each location, assess damage and provide restoration times. This process ensures the most accurate estimate possible. Customers may also report outages on the Dominion Energy website or by calling 866-DOM-HELP.
For your safety, please stay away from downed power lines. If you see a downed pole or wire, please report it by calling 866-DOM-HELP and stay at least 30 feet away. The line could be energized and dangerous.
Following the storm, there will be several days of extreme cold weather. Our system is fully prepared to reliably serve increased demand. We have inspected our equipment, tested critical facilities, and completed planned maintenance to ensure all parts of our system are fully operational. We are closely coordinating with our regional grid operator PJM and peer utilities in the region.