RICHMOND, Va., July 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion Virginia Power today once again advanced targets for restoring power to all customers who lost electric service because of last weekend's severe thunderstorms.

All known outages in Northern Virginia and the Richmond area related to the storms should be repaired by Friday night. For customers in the Charlottesville area and most of the Shenandoah Valley repairs should be completed by Saturday night. Repairs are expected to be completed by Sunday night in the Rockbridge and Covington/Clifton Forge areas, where the storm damage was especially severe and access is often difficult.

"We greatly appreciate the patience and consideration of our customers," said Rodney Blevins, vice president – Electric Distribution Operations. "We want them to know that we will not stop until everyone's lights are back on. There is no letting up."

Power has been restored to more than 1 million customers during the last six days, or 98 percent of those who lost service because of the storms. At 4 p.m. today, about 18,000 customers remained without service, with a majority of them in the hardest-hit areas of the Shenandoah Valley and Charlottesville area.

About 5,600 Dominion employees, retirees, contractors and utility crews from 18 states and Canada are working on the restoration. More than 1,000 bucket trucks are employed in the effort.

Repairs have been completed at more than 22,000 locations. Another 2,000 repair locations remain to be addressed.

Safety remains paramount

Even as restoration work nears completion, Dominion urges all customers to use caution.

Please stay away from downed lines and anything touching them – assume they are energized, and report them by calling 1-866-DOM-HELP (1-866-366-4357). Also, please stay away from areas where linemen are at work.

When calling Dominion, please have your account or phone number that is listed on your account so you can move through the automated system to report your outage or receive an update.  The calls will be answered by an automated voice response system, which is the quickest way to report an outage or downed power line, or by call-center representatives.

Follow safe operating procedures for electric generators. Never operate one inside your home or in an enclosed space, such as a garage. Do not connect portable generators directly to the electrical system of your home. Electricity could flow backward onto Dominion's power lines and endanger lives. Either have a qualified electrician perform the work or plug appliances directly into the generator using the proper-sized extension cords. Exhaust fumes contain carbon monoxide and can be deadly, so run your generator outside with proper ventilation. Store the fuel for your generator safely.

Dominion (NYSE: D) is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 27,500 megawatts of generation. Dominion operates the nation's largest natural gas storage system and serves retail energy customers in 15 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.

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SOURCE Dominion Virginia Power