The Home Builders Association of Virginia would like our members to know that Dominion Virginia Power has been assisting in electrical power restoration efforts to the south, as a result of the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, returning the favor for Hurricane Isabel assistance two years ago.

About 200 Dominion linemen, tree trimmers and contractors arrived in Louisiana on Wednesday to assist Entergy, Inc. Dominion sent more than 300 employees and contractors to southern Florida last week to assist Florida Power & Light in its recovery from Katrina's first landfall -- those personnel will transfer to Louisiana and Mississippi.

With this commitment, Dominion is asking its Virginia and northeastern North Carolina electric customers to be aware that hookups and routine work might be delayed while crews are responding to this national emergency. The company will continue to respond to customer needs, such as service restoration calls.

In September 2003, Hurricane Isabel swept through Virginia, turning out the lights on 1.8 million of the company's 2.2. million customers. Restoration took two weeks and cost $200 million. Utilities from as far away as Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Ontario sent crews to assist Dominion.

Representatives of Dominion Virginia Power have also asked HBAV to urge members requesting new hookups to let the local company liaisons know of your priority (i.e., must have) for the same at your earliest convenience, and they will make every effort to get priority (i.e., must have) service installed as soon as resources will allow.