Contact: NOVEC Public Relations, 1-888-335-0500, customerservice@novec.com
NORTHERN VIRGINIA — As of 12 noon on July 5, 2012, crews were working feverishly at the final location affected by the violent June 29 derecho storm. Current estimates are that work will be completed at this location today. This will bring the final five NOVEC customers back on line. Initially, 37,000 were left without power following the storm.
Thunderstorms on July 4 caused some additional outages. Customers who lost power from these storms should all be back in service today. NOVEC officials say the derecho storm was one of the most challenging ever faced by the Cooperative.
“Damage was wide-spread and extensive, from Point of Rocks at the Virginia–Maryland border to the Hartwood area in Stafford County,” explains Larry Shaffer, system operations manager. “Every jurisdiction we serve was affected by this storm. We replaced dozens of broken utility poles and cross-arms along with many transformers and thousands of feet of conductor.
“Our service restoration team has done a professional and outstanding job throughout. Safety, for the general public and for our workers, is always the top priority and I’m pleased to report that, to date, we have had no serious injuries during this intensive 24/7 service restoration.
“We understand how difficult it is for customers to contend with an extended power outage, especially in extreme weather conditions. It’s been very difficult for our construction and tree crews, as well. Imagine having to wear long-sleeved fire-retardant clothing and heavy rubber gloves and protective sleeves in this heat and humidity. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate our workers’ skill and commitment to get the job done.”
NOVEC President/CEO Stan Feuerberg visited crews in the field during the restoration and concurs with Shaffer. Feuerberg says, “We have a highly skilled and well-trained service restoration team. I was very impressed with what I saw in the field. NOVEC crews and contractors faced devastating damage from the storm, as well as extreme weather. Their physical conditioning and sheer determination made a real difference for NOVEC customers.”
Feuerberg explains how rapidly the Co-op reacted to the sudden storm. “We quickly recognized the severity of the situation and had out-of-state crews from Georgia and Florida rolling to assist us by Saturday morning. They went to work on our system Sunday morning and were an important addition to our team.”
Feuerberg adds, “We’ve designed and built a robust distribution system. We spend thousands of dollars annually in equipment maintenance along with extensive tree trimming near power lines. All of this work benefits our customer-owners when storms occur. I’m sure the damage to our system would have been even more severe without our on-going maintenance programs.
“NOVEC has been the most reliable electric utility in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area for the past 14 years. We take pride in this accomplishment and consider it a direct result of having a solid plan for system construction, maintenance and service restoration.”
“I especially want to thank our customer-owners for their understanding and patience throughout this outage,” Feuerberg says. “Almost all of them were very supportive and completely understood what our service restoration team was facing. I personally spoke with a number of them on the phone and in the field. I’ve been happy to pass along their many kind remarks to all NOVEC employees who have worked around the clock from beginning to end.
“We know how difficult it is to be without power. I want to assure the final five customers getting restored today that they are just as important to us as every other customer.”
