September 20, 2003
9:30 p.m.

RICHMOND, Va. - Dominion has restored service to about 800,000 customers in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina who were left without electricity by Hurricane Isabel.

A total of 1.8 million customers – 80 percent of those served by the company – lost electricity as the storm moved through Dominion’s service area with strong winds and torrential rain.

As of 9:30 p.m. Saturday, about 1 million customers remained without power. The company has mobilized a workforce of more than 8,000 to deal with the damage left by the hurricane, the worst storm in Dominion’s 100-year history.

Dominion made substantial progress Saturday in its efforts to repair circuits serving public health and safety facilities. Dominion had restored electricity to 30 critical water-pumping stations in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Repair crews had also restored power to 26 hospitals in Dominion’s service area. Restoration work continued at three hospitals still without power.

With many public health and safety facilities back in operation, workers have begun focusing on primary delivery circuits to restore service to homes and businesses. In many cases, however, the distribution system was severely damaged by the storm, particularly by falling trees, and major repairs are necessary. Damage was especially severe in central and eastern Virginia and in coastal North Carolina.

“In some cases, our distribution facilities must be rebuilt, not just repaired. The damage in many instances is catastrophic. Our lines were literally smashed by trees and falling limbs,” said Jimmy D. Staton, senior vice president-Operations. “Our aerial assessments have confirmed just how devastating this hurricane was.

“We are committed to getting the lights back on, but this task will be extremely difficult and even dangerous. The repair crews have done great work. But it’s obvious this effort will be complicated and time-consuming. It will require many days.”

Workers from utilities as far away as Oklahoma and Tennessee are assisting Dominion. Workers from other utilities continue to arrive to help in the repair effort.

Outages from Hurricane Isabel eclipsed those from other severe storms that have moved through Dominion’s service area. In 1996, Hurricane Fran disrupted service to approximately 1.1 million customers. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd cut power to about 700,000 customers. The service restoration in the wake of Hurricane Floyd required 10 days; so far, Dominion has restored service in three days to more customers than the total affected during the 1999 storm.

Dominion remains concerned about customer safety. Customers are warned to avoid downed power lines and the improper use of generators. Improperly installed, generators can cause carbon monoxide poisoning or backfeed into distribution circuits and injure line crews. Downed power lines should be reported by calling the company at 1-888-667-3000.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, with a diversified and integrated energy portfolio that includes 24,000 megawatts of generation and 6.3 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves. Dominion also serves 5 million retail energy customers in nine states. For more information about Dominion, including dynamic updates on power restoration, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.

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Editors and Reporters: Dynamic outage information is available on-line. To determine the number of power outages in your media market, visit www.dom.com, see the Hurricane Isabel logo and click on “Outage Map” or “Outage Summary.” This information is refreshed automatically every 15 minutes.