Dominion News Releases

May 10, 2001

Dominion Prepared To Meet Summer Electricity Demand

“While other parts of the nation face the possibility of rolling blackouts, Dominion has built generating capacity to keep pace with our customers’ demands,” said Thomas F. Farrell II, chief executive officer of Dominion Energy, the electric generating subsidiary of Dominion. “Our system is ready for the summer."

Company forecasters predict that peak demand for electricity this summer will be slightly more than 16,000 megawatts. Customers set the one-hour demand record of 16,216 megawatts on July 6, 1999, between 4 and 5 p.m.

Dominion Energy has 18,590 megawatts of capability ready to serve customers and no company generating units are scheduled for maintenance this summer. Two new combustion turbine facilities in Virginia have been built to provide electricity during peak demand hours. One facility, in Remington, can supply 600 megawatts and is available for use. The other, in Ladysmith, will be available June 1 to supply 320 megawatts.

During the past 10 years, Dominion’s electric customer base has grown by about 300,000 and the company has added about 6,000 megawatts of generation.

“While we have sufficient supplies to meet summer demand, it is always in the best interest of all our customers to use energy wisely and conserve whenever possible,” Farrell said.

Dominion, headquartered in Richmond, has a production capability of 2.7 trillion British Thermal Units of energy per day. The company has a total power-generation portfolio of more than 21,000 megawatts, which is expected to grow to approximately 28,000 megawatts by 2005. Dominion is one of the largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in North America, with 2.8 trillion cubic feet of equivalent reserves. Dominion also serves nearly 4 million retail natural gas and electric customers. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's web site at www.dom.com.

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