Contact: Priscilla Knight, 703-392-1580, pknight@novec.com
NORTHERN VIRGINIA – The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative crews are continuing their efforts to restore power to approximately 2,000 customers without power. The Co-op anticipates that electricity will be back on for all customers on Tuesday, Feb. 9.
“Our crews have responded to more than 250 outages since the storm began on Friday,” says NOVEC Operations Center Supervisor Larry Shaffer. “This storm has been a beast. The deep snows, unplowed roads, bitter temperatures, and wind have made work conditions horrible, but we’ve restored power to approximately 43,000 customers. That’s almost a third of our 143,000 total customers.”
Allen Barbee, NOVEC vice president of electric systems operations, says crews are working first on outages that affect the greatest number of people. “We restore facilities in the necessary sequence of substations first, then circuits that serve a large number of customers, and finally smaller neighborhoods and individual services. VDOT has been extremely helpful in restoring access to roads as quickly as they can, so that NOVEC line technicians can access and repair damaged electric services.”
Barbee notes that many of the outages occurred when snow-laden trees and branches fell on power lines in wooded areas. “If our crews can’t drive NOVEC trucks into problem places, they have to walk through two feet of snow carrying heavy equipment and chain saws. Then, they have to find the lines that are down and cut and remove the trees, then repair the damaged lines. That takes a lot of time.”
Barbee is concerned about another snowstorm hitting the Northern Virginia area on Tuesday or Wednesday. “The forecast doesn’t look good,” says Barbee. “With another storm coming in with high winds and freezing temperatures, it’s highly likely that more trees will fall on power lines and cause additional outages. Customers should prepare to be without power for several days.”
NOVEC recommends that customers have fresh batteries for flashlights and radios, plenty of food and water, necessary medicines, pet food, baby supplies, blankets, and firewood for wood-burning fireplaces. NOVEC reminds customers to only use electric generators that have been installed outside by licensed electricians for the safety of homeowners and NOVEC line technicians.
Barbee warns everyone to stay away from downed power lines: “Tell children who want to play in the snow to keep away from power lines that have fallen. People who are going to clear snow from roofs and driveways should also check for downed lines before working. NOVEC customers who see downed lines should call us at 703-335-0500 or 1-888-335-0500 immediately.”
Mike Curtis, vice president of public relations, says “We are very concerned about our customers who have been without heat since Friday. Some have wells that work on electricity and they have been without water and heat. We are trying to restore power to them and everyone as quickly as possible.”
Customers can visit www.novec.com and click on “Outage Summary” to get an estimate for when power will be restored in their neighborhoods. They can click on “Report an Outage” on the Web site or call 703-335-0500 or 1-888-335-0500 to inform NOVEC they are without power.
