High school seniors may apply for NOVEC and electric co-op scholarships

January 05, 2022

Contact: NOVEC Public Relations, 1-703-335-0500, communications@novec.com

MANASSAS, Va. – Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative crews have worked nonstop to restore power service to almost 19,000 customers since Winter Storm Frida arrived on Monday, Jan. 3. NOVEC’s crews -- as well as crews from other states and additional contract crews -- are working to restore service to approximately 1,500 customers on Wednesday afternoon. The Co-op estimates most of these customers will have power service restored by Thursday, but it could take until Friday for some.

Most of the outages occurred where most of the snow fell in NOVEC’s service territory – in parts of Fairfax, Prince William, Fauquier, and Stafford Counties. Snow-covered trees and branches outside of the Co-op’s right-of-way corridors fell on utility poles and power lines.

Lineman Frida

With Interstate 95 re-opened, and other highways cleared of snow and backed-up traffic, utility trucks are reaching more outage locations on Wednesday, particularly in Stafford County and southern Prince William County.

Jill Scherzer, manager of Electric System Operations, says 32 utility poles broke during the storm. “Crews must remove broken poles and install new ones. It takes several hours to replace just one pole and then re-attach utility equipment and power lines.

“We have to recognize the conditions and obstacles our lineworkers and field crews continue to experience as they strive to get the lights on for our customers,” Scherzer states. “We also have to be mindful of the snow fatigue from both our customers and workers. There have been crews working non-stop on the system with continuous coverage since the start of this event. We understand everyone wants service restored. We appreciate our customers’ patience as our crews work.”

Customers can view or report outages at novec.com/stormcenter. They can find storm and power outage information at novec.com/outageinfo.

NOVEC is a not-for-profit electric utility corporation that supplies and distributes electricity and energy-related services to more than 180,000 metered customers in Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford, and Clarke counties, the Town of Clifton, and the City of Manassas Park. It is Virginia’s largest electric cooperative and one of the largest electric companies of its kind in the nation. Learn more at novec.com, or call 703-335-0500. NOVEC is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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