January 17, 2003

PITTSBURGH - Dominion Peoples is re-lighting customers street-by-street after an outage in the southern Butler County, northern Allegheny County area. Customers are asked not to attempt to re-light pilot lights and restore service themselves.

Dominion brought in extra crews from throughout its Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia service area to reopen lines, test them and re-light pilot lights. Customers must be home to admit crew members. All crew members will have company photo identification badges. If customers are not at home, crew members will leave a tag on the door with the phone number for the customer to call.

About 2,800 customers lost service because of a blockage in a transmission line. The blockage is cleared, many customers are back on and the majority are expected to be back on today.

Service restoration steps include: shutting off the flow of gas, purging the lines of air, re-pressurize the system by section, re-lighting appliance pilot lights and inspecting appliances. Access to the inside of a home is necessary to restore service.

Because of the extremely cold temperatures, Dominion Peoples reminds customers to stay warm. Some tips:

• Check on their neighbors and especially the elderly to make sure they have heat or transportation to a shelter.
• Use electric space heaters, fireplaces, etc. in a safe manner.
• Winterize your home to avoid freezing water lines and drains.
• Many churches and other agencies have set up shelters. Among them are:
   
  • Saxonburg Primary School, 328 Knoch Road, Saxonburg Pa. Telephone Red Cross at (724) 283-2810.
  • Highland High School, 1500 Pacific Avenue, Natrona Heights at (724) 226-1000.
  • Allegheny Valley Hospital is accepting consumers with special needs-health, medical needs, etc.