Contact: NOVEC Public Relations, 1-888-335-0500, customerservice@novec.com
At 6:30 p.m. this evening NOVEC reported service restoration to nearly 24,000 customers. At the height of the fierce thunderstorms that roared through Northern Virginia Friday night, 37,000 NOVEC customers lost power. The number of outages has been reduced to just over 14,000.
“While I believe we have made substantial progress today, we do understand the challenges these outages have caused for our customers, and we won’t leave the field until all service is restored,” says Skip Hollcroft, NOVEC’s Construction Manager. “I want to assure our customers that the crews in the field are doing a heroic job in these brutal conditions. When you have to wear long pants and long sleeve shirts made of fire retardant material that doesn’t breathe, and then slip on rubber gloves and sleeves that extend from your finger tips to our neck, it’s only a matter of seconds before the sweat begins pouring down your face and into your eyes. With all of that going on, they still have to remain totally focused to work safely with 12,000 volts. I can’t begin to tell you how much I respect the skill of our line technicians and their commitment to restoring service quickly and safely,” says Hollcroft.
The storm caused extensive damage throughout the NOVEC system – no jurisdiction was left unscathed. The primary cause of outages was trees, broken and felled by the high gusting winds. Many were healthy trees that toppled from outside the maintained utility easement. Crews have also reported broken poles and cross arms.
Customers still out of power should be prepared for a multi-day service restoration. Those with internet access can track restoration progress here: http://stormcenter.novec.com/index.cfm
Construction and tree crews have been in the field since the storm hit and will be working around the clock until all service is restored. Additional out-of- state crews are assisting with service restoration.
Safety is always a top priority for our employees and customers. Downed power lines and trees touching the lines are extremely dangerous and should never be touched. Downed power lines should be immediately reported by contacting NOVEC at 703-335-0500 or toll free at 1-888-335-0500.
See outage summary below:
