There are many causes for outages and as you might expect, severe weather is the leading cause.

• Lightning often strikes transmission line towers, utility poles, wires, transformers and other electrical equipment, causing severe damage and loss of power.
• Strong winds blow tree limbs or entire trees onto power lines. Severe winds, such as from hurricanes and tornadoes, can destroy large areas of lines and utility poles.
• Ice and Snow can weigh down tree limbs causing them to fall into power lines
• Heavy rain and floods can trigger power outages by damaging overhead and underground electrical equipment.
• Coastal salt contamination and moisture can cause equipment to fail.
• Construction incidents, such as excavation activities can damage underground cables and cause underground cable failures. Note: Always Call Before You Dig to avoid cable damage.
• Traffic accidents are a common cause of power outages where poles and electrical equipment may be severely damaged.
• Trees and limbs can fall on power lines regardless of weather, sometimes damaging a power line and supporting structures.
• Momentary outages (indicated by flickering or dimming of lights) are sometimes caused by temporary disruptions of power flow when, for example, something like a tree limb brushes against a power line for a few seconds. The electric grid includes equipment that is designed to automatically open and close 2-3 times to allow the problem to clear.

Preparing for storms is a priority at Dominion Energy. We understand the impact it has on our customers and are always prepared to respond.

• Dominion Energy has a full-time staff dedicated to preparing our entire team for emergency response – including severe weather events.
• Dominion Energy facilitates regular storm exercises and training and participates in local, state, and federal exercises.
• We monitor the weather forecast and plan our storm response accordingly.
• When conditions allow, we send field crews to areas most likely to be affected by the storm.
• We also staff local areas with additional restoration and patrol teams who will begin work it is safe.
• For large-scale events, we can request assistance from other utility companies and out-of-state contractors.

In some cases, we do; but with more information reported by customers about outages, Dominion Energy can better understand the nature of the outages and dispatch for repair more efficiently. Reporting outages is always encouraged.

Restoration times are based on a number of factors, including the nature and number of outage incidents. The first steps in restoring power involve assessing damage and protecting the safety of emergency workers, repair crews and the public. Priority is given to clearing downed power lines and getting power to health and safety facilities. Learn more about Dominion Energy's power restoration process, or if you have already reported an outage, check the status and get an estimated restoration time.

Getting your lights on as safely and quickly as possible is our top priority. To establish an estimated time of restoration (ETR), we evaluate the information that our customers provide when they report an outage and the damage assessments being continually performed by our field personnel. With this information, we refine our restoration plan and can provide our customers with better informed estimates on when power can be restored.

On occasion, our field personnel crews may find more damage than originally reported, which can take more time to make repairs. When this occurs we will make adjustments to our ETRs, so that our customers always have the latest information to plan their lives.

We're concerned about the well-being of all customers during power outages. Critical facilities which are vital to our communities are prioritized for restoration, such as hospitals, fire and police stations, water purification facilities, etc. You should always be prepared with battery- or manually-powered medical equipment in the event of an outage. For longer outages, we encourage you to have a plan to receive proper care until service is restored.

If you or someone in your household requires the use of electrically-powered medical equipment, use this request form to be added to our medical conditions list. Dominion Energy will proactively notify customers on this list when we are expecting wide-scale power outages due to pending large weather events. This allows our customers to make necessary preparations in advance.

The form requires a physician's statement and signature. You must complete a form each year and we must receive it within 30 days of the anniversary date of the last form you sent. This is important for ensuring that your account remains on the medical condition list.

When restoration begins following a severe weather event, our crews focus their immediate attention on responding to public safety issue and restoring power to critical services such as hospitals. You may see our crews bypass some areas in order to respond to these immediate needs.

In addition, we have field personnel whose responsibility it is to assess the damage that has occurred following severe weather. is the first step to getting your lights on. These teams may pass through your neighborhood without stopping, but rest assured they are performing vital work. The information they gather is used to identify and plan repairs so work can be performed safely and efficiently. Sometimes, tree crews are needed to remove fallen branches before repairs can begin.

Often the issues impacting service are not within sight of your home or business.

As you can imagine, performing work on damaged power lines is very dangerous and requires that our crews occasionally congregate to review safety plans and repair strategies. Once work is completed on a project, our crews may park so that they can provide updates on their work and safely receive the information for their next work assignment. Our crews may park while they are waiting for their next work assignments, additional line crews to arrive, and/or information necessary to safely complete repairs. In addition, crews traveling from other areas and states are typically assembled in staging areas so that Dominion Energy personnel can provide safety orientations to these crews before they are engaged in the restoration effort. In all cases, our crews are committed to working around the clock until power is restored for all of our customers.

As long as conditions are safe, our crews will work around the clock to restore service to our customers. We typically have most of our crews working during the daylight hours when they can be most productive, but we will always have crews working overnight to continue the restoration effort and ensuring public safety.

We also leverage the overnight hours to analyze damage reports, organize the next day’s work and update estimated times of restorations. We will not rest until every customer has had their power restored.

Our primary focus after storms is restoring power quickly and safely. As crews restore power, they will cut away trees that have fallen on lines or remove trees as necessary to fix the line or equipment. To move as quickly as possible to the next repair location, the crews will generally leave the debris in place.

• We will return to clean up debris that is in Dominion Energy’s right-of-way.
• For debris on roadways, call your local department of transportation for removal.
• For debris on rights-of-way, contact your local government/county for assistance.

An electric grid is designed to minimize the number of customers that incur an outage when damage occurs on the grid. For example, when a tree falls across a line during severe weather, only a portion of customers on the circuit experience an outage, instead of everyone on the circuit. This design also helps our field personnel to pinpoint where the damage has occurred, which helps to shorten restoration times for our customers. However, if your neighbor’s power is back on but yours is not, and you have already checked your breakers, please let us know by reporting your power outage via our Dominion Energy app, the Dominion Energy website, or by calling 888-333-4465.

Lights may flicker for many reasons, including:

• Equipment installed on the grid may be operating to ensure the safety of our circuits
• Sometimes in order to perform work safely, our crews may need to temporarily disrupt power in order to make repairs that will permanently restore power for our customers
• Tree branches fall on a power line
• Lightning strikes
• Vehicle accident involving power line
• Damage to electrical equipment

Please call us at 888-333-4465 to report the damage and we will send someone out to investigate. As always, we ask that you stay at least 30 feet away from any downed power lines or damaged equipment. You may find additional information on our meter damage and repair guide.

Many gas appliances will continue working, even during power outages. Know ahead of time which of yours will work when the power is out.

Most gas fireplaces, water heaters and ranges will operate when the electricity goes out because they don't require electricity. Some models of gas fireplaces can be turned off by hand.

The top burners on your range will also work, but range tops with electronic ignitions will need to be lit by match. Consult your owner's manual for instructions.

Never use your gas oven, range or outdoor barbecue to heat your home. They weren't designed for that purpose. Using them as a source of heat can cause dangerous levels of carbon monoxide to build up in your home.

We want to ensure that after repairs have been made that your power is back on. When you report your power outage, you may request a call back and we will contact you after repairs have been made to ensure your power has been restored. This is especially important during a storm restoration as it provides confirmation that our repairs have been successful.

You can make it easier to locate your account during a storm by updating the phone numbers listed on the account before the storm. Update your account information online or contact a customer service representative at 800-251-7234.