Electric News Release

December 5, 2002

Freezing Rain, Snow Bring Outages To Dominion Customers

RICHMOND, Va. - The first storm of the 2002-03 winter season brought messy snow, ice and freezing rain into Dominion's electric service areas in North Carolina and Virginia early Thursday.

As of 8:30 a.m., about 24,000 Dominion customers were without electric service, with most of those - about 16,000 - in the Dominion North Carolina Power service area that stretches from Roanoke Rapids to Manteo on the Outer Banks. About 4,000 Dominion Virginia Power customers were without service in Eastern Virginia and about 4,000 in Central Virginia.

Freezing rain is expected to continue moving northward from North Carolina into Central Virginia Thursday morning before temperatures warm and change the precipitation to rain only.

Dominion staged additional tree trimming and service restoration crews around the edge of the area expected to be hit the hardest by the storm. Those crews began moving into affected areas Thursday to reconnect customers.

Dominion reminds customers to stay away from downed power lines. All downed power lines should be considered energized and dangerous. If customers see a downed power line or need to report an outage, call Dominion's Customer Service Center at toll-free 1-888-667-3000.

Dominion has a diversified and integrated energy portfolio consisting of about 24,000 megawatts of generation. Dominion also serves more than 3.8 million franchise natural gas and electric customers in five states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.

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