Crews getting power back on

By: Keith Walker | Inside NoVA
Published: February 08, 2010

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- Dominion Virginia Power expects to return service to 737 Prince William customers by Tuesday night, said company spokeswoman Daisy Pridgen.

As of Monday morning Dominion had not tallied how many people in the county went without power during the storm that dumped on 17 to 27 inches of snow across the area Friday and Saturday.

Downed tree limbs and snow-bound roads were the main reason for customers going without power, Pridgen said.

“In some of the areas, we had to wait for VDOT to clear the roads to gain access to our equipment,” she said.

The power company’s crews worked around the clock trying to keep power on for its customers.

“Our crews are still out there, still working and still assessing damage,” she said.

Dominion reported that 1,937 of its customers were without power on Sunday.

Most of the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative’s 4,538 customers who are without power live in Prince William County, said cooperative spokesman Mike Curtis.

“We began Sunday with more than 11,000 out of service and were able to reduce it to the current number,” Curtis said in a press release.

NOVEC, which also had problems with un-cleared road, has had crews on around the clock to restore power to its customers, Curtis said.

Restoration efforts continue to be hampered by roads that are inaccessible.

“NOVEC is working with VDOT to gain access to these locations. Restoration efforts continue to be hampered by roads that are inaccessible,” Curtis said.

The cooperative hopes to have power restored to all of its customers soon, Curtis said.

We hope to have all service restored by Tuesday — our progress today will tell us whether that is a realistic target,” Curtis said Monday.

Curtis warned people to be cautious around any power lines that are down.

“We continue to caution customers to treat every downed power line as live and do not try to remove any line they may see on the ground” Curtis said.

NOVEC serves 76,301 customers in Prince William County.