January 25, 2005

RICHMOND, Va. – Dominion (NYSE: D), one of the nation's largest energy companies, Monday met its third record winter one-hour peak demand in 35 days from its Virginia and North Carolina electricity customers.

Demand from the company’s 2.2 million electric customers in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina reached an estimated 16,962 megawatts from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. Monday. The old mark of 16,689 megawatts was set last Tuesday, Jan. 18. It had surpassed the record of 16,448 megawatts of Dec. 20, 2004. Further tabulations may adjust the final amount of megawatts generated and consumed by customers.

The Dominion all-time record peak demand is 17,084 megawatts set July 29, 2002.

Dominion encourages its customers to use smart energy practices to keep homes warm and heating systems working at peak efficiencies. Heating costs can account for 25 percent to 50 percent of a home’s total energy expense, so efficiency experts offer these tips to control heating costs:

• Have a qualified heating contractor inspect and service your system to ensure it is safe and working at peak efficiency.
  
   
• If you have a forced-air heating system, clean or replace the filter monthly and keep heat vents open and unobstructed by furniture.
  
   
• Set the thermostat at 68 degrees or the lowest temperature you find comfortable. For every degree you lower the setting, you can see a difference of up to 3 percent in energy costs. Setting it lower at night will produce savings with gas and oil systems, but is not recommended for heat pump systems unless you have a programmable thermostat specifically designed for that system.

Other tips can be found at the Dominion Web site, www.dom.com/news/storm.jsp.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, with an energy portfolio of about 28,340 megawatts of generation. Dominion also serves retail energy customers in eight states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.

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