EEI Awards Dominion Virginia Power With 'Emergency Recovery Award' Following Blizzards

WASHINGTON, March 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Edison Electric Institute today honored Dominion Virginia Power (Dominion) with the association's "Emergency Recovery Award" for outstanding efforts in restoring electric service following two heavy snowstorms that struck within just four days.

The award is presented annually to U.S. and foreign-based member companies to recognize outstanding efforts in restoring electric service that has been disrupted by severe weather conditions or other natural events. Winners were chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process, and the awards were presented during EEI's Spring CEO meeting.

In February 2010, a record-breaking snowfall blanketed the East Coast, including much of Dominion's Virginia service area. The snow affected 287,000 customers, including hospitals, emergency response centers, and water pumping facilities. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency, as streets became dangerous to traverse.

Before the brunt of the storm hit, Dominion sent crews to expected damage sites in the north and west of the state. The pre-positioning of crews greatly enhanced the restoration effort, taking only five days to restore all those affected, including 105,000 sustained outages. In total, 2,700 Dominion employees, line and tree contractors accumulated nearly 350,000 man hours.

The company kept the public informed through its Web site updates and even took the opportunity to launch its Twitter page to inform its followers.

"Dominion was steadfast in its handling of the massive East Coast snowstorms," said EEI President Tom Kuhn. "The company's wise planning and execution made the daunting task of restoring over a quarter-million customers as smooth an operation as it gets."

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 27,600 megawatts of generation. Dominion operates the nation's largest natural gas storage system and serves retail energy customers in 14 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's website at www.dom.com. 

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) is the association of U.S. shareholder-owned electric companies. Our members serve 95 percent of the ultimate customers in the shareholder-owned segment of the industry, and represent approximately 70 percent of the U.S. electric power industry. We also have more than 65 International electric companies as Affiliate members, and more than 170 industry suppliers and related organizations as Associate members.

SOURCE Edison Electric Institute