July 27, 2005

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.

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