February 5, 2008

CLEVELAND – EnergyShare, Dominion East Ohio’s last-resort heating assistance program, is now accepting applications. The Salvation Army administers EnergyShare throughout Dominion East Ohio’s service territory. For information on the nearest office, call 1-888-667-3000.

EnergyShare, supported by donations from Dominion customers and its employees, is designed to help those in need heat their homes after they have exhausted all other forms of assistance.  Payments go directly to the energy vendor on behalf of the recipient.

Administering agencies can help individuals to determine if they qualify.  To qualify for EnergyShare assistance, a person must:

• Live in Dominion’s service area,
• Be in danger of losing an important heat source,
• Have a household income no more than one-half of the local median income level,
• Be unemployed, or
• Demonstrate a personal or family crisis.

To ensure the widest possible distribution of assistance, eligible persons can receive a one-time payment of up to $500 per heating season. Because Dominion and the agencies pay the administrative costs, every dollar contributed to EnergyShare goes to pay heating bills.  The funds can be used for any type of heat – oil, coal, wood, kerosene, natural gas or electricity.

Since 2001, Dominion East Ohio, its employees and its customers have raised more than $2 million for EnergyShare, helping more than 26,000 people. Contributions to Dominion East Ohio’s EnergyShare program in 2007 totaled $575,724, including a $300,000 donation from Dominion. With those funds, EnergyShare helped 2,279 families, encompassing 6,337 people, for the 2006-2007 heating season.

EnergyShare donations can be sent to The Salvation Army, P.O. Box 5847, Cleveland, Ohio 44101-0847. All contributions are tax-deductible.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 26,500 megawatts of generation, 14,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, 6,000 miles of electric transmission lines and 1 Tcfe of proved natural gas and oil reserves. Dominion also owns and operates the nation’s largest underground natural gas storage system with over 970 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in 11 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at http://www.dom.com/.

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