September 15, 2003

RICHMOND, Va. - Dominion Virginia Power started preparing late last week for Hurricane Isabel, which is projected to bring extremely high winds and heavy rain into Virginia and North Carolina this week.

Dominion inventoried storm supplies before the weekend began and arranged with vendors for additional material and supplies such as poles, crossarms and power lines. The company has standing commitments from contractors and neighboring utilities to provide crews and equipment. The company expects to have a service restoration workforce of 5,000.

Based on Hurricane Isabel's current projected track, extreme weather -- with winds of more than 100 mph in northeastern North Carolina and Hampton Roads -- is expected to sweep Thursday across most of the company's 30,000 square mile electric franchise service area. Damage to electric facilities could start as early as Tuesday, with the harshest weather expected Thursday afternoon and evening.

Customers should be preparing for a major weather event. Storms of this magnitude can cause widespread and extended electrical outages.

"Our customers need to be prepared for not having electricity for several days because of broken poles and downed power lines. Plus, recent rains mean that wind-blown trees will cause their share of outages. As soon as we are able to assess the damage, our line crews will begin safely restoring power," said Jimmy D. Staton, senior vice president-Operations.

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. 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.

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 Hurricane Isabel's storms near, 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 you normally wash your clothes on the weekend, do them earlier this week before the storm.
• Have a good supply of canned and other non-refrigerated foods available.
• Make sure prescription medications are filled.
• If the power goes out, turn off major appliances such as heat pumps, water heaters and stoves. Unplug other appliances such as TV's, stereos, microwaves, and computers. This will prevent damage to the appliance and possible overloads to the company's system when power is restored.
• Disconnect cable lines from TVs and stereos and phone lines from computers. This will prevent lightning damage to these expensive items.
• Leave one lamp or light on so you can tell when power is restored.
• Open refrigerators and freezers as little as possible to keep contents cold.
• If using portable or camp-type stoves or lanterns for cooking and lighting, make sure the area is adequately ventilated.
• Do not hook portable generators directly to the electrical system of your home. Electricity could backfeed into power lines endangering repair crews. Either have a qualified electrician perform that work or plug directly into the generator with the proper-sized extension cords.

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 someplace other than their homes.

Customers with routine work, such as new connects or meter services - should expect delays in getting that work done in the event of widespread outages.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, with a portfolio consisting of 24,000 megawatts of generation, 6.1 trillion cubic feet equivalent of natural gas reserves, 7,900 miles of natural gas transmission pipeline and more than 960 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. Dominion also serves 5 million retail energy customers in nine states. Additional information about Dominion is available on the Internet at www.dom.com.

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