August 12, 2004

RICHMOND, Va - Dominion Virginia Power is keeping close watch on Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley and ensuring repair crews will be ready to respond to anticipated heavy rain and possible associated winds.

"Our crews have been notified to be prepared for storm restoration work and we've checked our inventory of replacement equipment and other material," said Jimmy Staton, senior vice president-Delivery Operations. "We anticipate potentially heavy rainfall, moderately strong winds and some flooding."

Dominion reminds its customers to call toll free 1-888-667-3000 to report outages or downed lines. The company also reminds customers to stay away from downed power lines and consider them extremely dangerous.

The company's outage reporting system, which consists of operators as well as a computer-powered voice response unit, can handle 100,000 calls an hour. Using the voice response unit is the quickest way to report an outage or downed power lines.

When outages occur, Dominion crews are assigned to work on problems that affect the largest number of customers first, with emergency facilities receiving expedited attention.

Dominion urges its customers to pay attention to weather reports and if appropriate take common-sense steps to prepare for possible outages:

• Have a good supply of fresh batteries for flashlights, clocks and radios.
• Have several gallons of freshwater on hand. This is especially important for those who rely on well water.
• If lightning occurs, disconnect cable lines from TVs and stereos and phone lines from computers. This will help prevent damage to these expensive items.
• Do not hook portable generators directly to the electrical system of your home. Electricity could backfeed into power lines and endanger repair crews. Either have a qualified electrician perform that work or plug directly into the generator with the proper-sized extension cords. Remember to keep any generator properly ventilated to avoid a build up of carbon monoxide fumes.

Dominion also reminds customers that if they have health problems or are dependent on home medical equipment, they may need to make arrangements in advance for shelter some place other than their homes.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy with an energy portfolio of about 25,500 megawatts of generation. Dominion also serves about 5 million 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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