Media Advisory - July 24, 3 PM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CVEC Storm Preparations Underway:  Central Virginia Electric Cooperative prepares for outage response. (Lovingston, VA)

As severe weather advances toward the 14-county service territory of Central Virginia Electric Cooperative (CVEC), preparations are underway for crews to respond to reported outages and for members to receive updates from a number of sources.

CVEC members may report outages by calling 800-367-2832 and using the automated reporting system.  Cooperative members may also visit www.mycvec.com on a computer or a smart phone to report an outage online.  Each reported loss of power will be entered into the CVEC Outage Management System, where it will be combined with other reported outages to allow dispatchers to send crews to where they will do the most good. 

Members are advised that early predictions of restoration times would be speculative until crews in the field are able to assess the scope and severity of any storm damage.

Outage updates will be available through the local media, on the CVEC Facebook page, and at www.mycvec.com.  The Cooperative website also features an outage map with the number of members affected within each substation service area.

CVEC members are advised to take appropriate measures, including turning off major appliances, after a loss of power,  in order to help with cold load pick up…the point when power is restored and there is a major burden on the distribution system.  Look for updates as information become available.

Central Virginia Electric Cooperative is a member-owned, not-for-profit, electric utility serving the rural portions of 14 Virginia counties.

Outage Update - July 9, 11:00 AM

Over the next few weeks, crews from CVEC will be returning to locations on the distribution that received temporary repairs in order to make them permanent. At that time damaged equipment will be retrieved including broken poles.

CVEC does not remove downed trees from member's property but may move them from the right-of-way in order to provide access for crews.

Landowners that wish to keep a damaged pole should contact CVEC at 800-367-2832 for permission.

Outage Update - July 6, 9:00 AM

CVEC began the day with 23 outages, eleven in the Whitehall substation area. The total has jumped to 34, but crews will clean up the remainder today as soon as possible.

Outage Update - July 5, 4:00 PM

Crews are working to resolve 62 individual outages that remain after the morning total shot up for a few hours. There is also one group outage affecting 30 people. Hopefully the individual outages go fast.

Outage Update - July 5, 8:00 AM

CVEC currently has 148 member that remain without electric service as a result of the damage from the winds storms of 2012.

Outage Update - July 3, 3:30 PM

Tuesday has been a good day for CVEC linemen and there is plenty time left in the workday.  CVEC began the Tuesday morning with a little under 4,000 members without power and had 1300 remaining as of 3:30 PM. 

With some luck, CVEC could be under 500 by Tuesday night, a significant drop from the 15,000 CVEC members who awoke to no power on Saturday Morning.

Restoration highlights include:

• The Piney River substation area, in Nelson County, is down to 506 outages out of a total of 1800 meters
• Martins Store substation, in Nelson County, has 462 remaining outages of the total 3973 meters
• The Whitehall substation area, north of Crozet, began the day with 1344 outages and is down to 266
• The Midway substation area, south of Crozet and serving the Batesville area ,has 79 remaining outages.
• The Schuyler substation was re-energized this afternoon when AEP complete repairs of their transmission line, putting 641 CVEC members back into service.
• The Colleen substation, in Nelson County and the Red Hill substation, south of Charlottesville only have 33 and 27 outages, respectively in their service areas.
• Nine CVEC substations have 1-2 outages reported and fourteen substations have no reported outages.

If a member receives a phone call indicating service restoration or the member’s neighbors all have power and the member does not, he or she should call 800-367-2832 to re-enter your outage.  Crews will address individual outages that remain after service restoration in each area.

CVEC expressed appreciation for the patience of its members and the hard work of the every linemen working long hours under difficult and dangerous conditions.  Crews will tackle any remaining outages Wednesday, July 4th.

Visit www.mycvec.com for an outage update or to view the outage map.  Visit www.facebook.com to become a CVEC fan and keep up with the latest news.

Outage Update - July 3, 11 AM

Crews are making great progress on the morning of July 3rd with power restoration efforts.  We had more than 3800 without service at daybreak and the outage total is down to 2500 at 11 AM. 

Many substation areas have been cleared of outages.  Twenty substation areas have less than 5 know outages.

The Whitehall substation area shows 798 out, down from 1344 last night when it was re-energized.

The Schuyler substation has 641 out.  AEP is reportedly working on the transmission line that feeds that substation and we expect many services will come back when the substation is back online.

Martins Store substation area is down to 456 know outages and Piney River is way down from 1200 yesterday to 358 outages.

Midway has 131 remaining outages, Columbia, Colleen and Red Hill substation areas are all less than 50 outages.

Today looks like a good day to get the power back on for the vast majority of members.  There will likely be a few pockets that remain due to extensive localized damage.

View the outage map and track restoration progress

Outage Update - July 2, 5 AM

Outages remain in all substation areas.  In general, the counties of Orange, Louisa, Fluvanna, Goochland, Buckingham, Cumberland and Appomattox have small pockets of outages and individual outages.  We had hoped to have many of those cleared by this morning but more work remains.  If you live in one of those counties and do not have power, you can report your outage by using the CVEC automated outage reporting system.  Call 800-367-2832.  The system will recognize your telephone number if we have it on file or you can use your account number that is printed on your electric bill.

Two substations are without transmission service, meaning that every member served is without power.  The Whitehall Substation in Albemarle is waiting on Dominion Power to make repairs and resume delivery of power through their transmission system.  1344 CVEC members are affected.  In addition, there was severe damage to the distribution system.  Crews are working to make repairs.  The Schuyler substation in Nelson County is waiting on AEP to restore transmission service.  This substation also serves a portion of Buckingham County, including Yogaville.  There is less damage there and many members will have power when the transmission service to the substation is restored.  Presently 642 members are without power.

Other Substation areas that have high numbers include:

• Piney River substation, which serves up to Long Mountain along Route 60 in Amherst and serves portions of western Nelson County
• Martins Store substation with the Nellysford circuit and the Woods Mill circuit requiring additional work.
• Midway substation north of Batesville and Red Hill substation south of Charlottesville each have 300-400 members without power
• This is not a complete list but one that highlights the larger areas.

Take a moment to read about the outage restoration process and visit the outage map at www.mycvec.com to track the restoration effort.

If you have not reported an outage, you can do so by calling 800-367-2832.  Use the automated system and your information will be included in our outage management system.

Outage Update - July 2, 10 AM

CVEC crews with the assistance of 50 visiting linemen from sister cooperatives reduced the number of outages to roughly 5200 by late Sunday evening.

Outages remain in all substation areas.  In general, the counties of Orange, Louisa, Fluvanna, Goochland, Buckingham, Cumberland and Appomattox have small pockets of outages and individual outages. (A portion of Buckingham served by the Schuyler substation is one exception as well as the Keswick area served by the Zion substation.)  We had hoped to have many of those cleared by this morning but more work remains.  If you live in one of those counties and do not have power, you can report your outage by using the CVEC automated outage reporting system.  Call 800-367-2832.  The system will recognize your telephone number if we have it on file or you can use your account number that is printed on your electric bill.

Two substations are without transmission service, meaning that every member served is without power.  The Whitehall Substation in Albemarle is waiting on Dominion Power to make repairs and resume delivery of power through their transmission system.  1344 CVEC members are affected.  In addition, there was severe damage to the distribution system.  Crews are working to make repairs.  The Schuyler substation in Nelson County is waiting on AEP to restore transmission service.  This substation also serves a portion of Buckingham County, including Yogaville.  There is less damage there and many members will have power when the transmission service to the substation is restored.  Presently 642 members are without power.

Other Substation areas that have high numbers include:

• Piney River substation, which serves up to Long Mountain along Route 60 in Amherst and serves portions of western Nelson County
• Martins Store substation with the Nellysford circuit and the Woods Mill circuit requiring additional work.
• Midway substation north of Batesville and Red Hill substation south of Charlottesville each have 300-400 members without power
• This is not a complete list but one that highlights the larger areas.

Take a moment to read about the outage restoration process and visit the outage map at www.mycvec.com to track the restoration effort.

If you have not reported an outage, you can do so by calling 800-367-2832.  Use the automated system and your information will be included in our outage management system.

Outage Update - July 1, 3 PM

CVEC has an estimated 6700 outage as of 3 PM with the vast majority of them in Nelson and Albemarle County.  Here is a breakdown of the outages by Substation area:

• Whitehall has 1344 while Red Hill has 253 in Albemarle. Whitehall is still waiting for Dominion to restore transmission service but there is also significaant damage on the distribution side of the substation.
• In Nelson County, the Nellysford circuit out of Martins Store has 1433 without service, while the Woodsmill circuit has 246, down from 734.
• The Schuyler substation has lost the transmission feed affecting 642 members.  When APCO restores transmission service we expect power to flow to a good number of members.
• Piney River substation has 1099 members without power on two circuits.
• Gladstone and Colleen substations have a couple hundred out of service.

General Update & Overview of Outage Restoration Process - July 1, 10 AM

Here is a brief update on CVEC restoration efforts and information about a communication outage that has hampered our ability to provide information to members.

Normally, CVEC is able to display the number of outages according to our substation service areas and we normally are able to describe the locations of the circuits that have been affected by the storm damage. The Cooperative has been without telephone or Internet service since the onset of the severe weather event, so we are unable to receive outage calls or online reports. Without that data, our Outage Management System cannot employ predictive analysis to identify fault locations and we cannot accurately project the number of members that are affected. We also don’t have the benefit of sharing our outage map without that data.

Hopefully Verizon will restore service before our crews complete their field repair work, but until then we are dependent on their process to clear faults and repair the distribution system as quickly as possible. Today, 31 reinforcement linemen from Georgia electric cooperatives are working alongside CVEC linemen and contract linemen. Information will be scant, other than what we can gather based upon field reports and what we are able to track through our dispatching center. Mostly the information will be about the overall estimated numbers (7200 estimated outages, down from 15,000 on Saturday morning) and some of the outages on larger circuits. Many members should see power restored today. Others will be restored in the following days. We should know more as the day progresses and will share what information is available. CVEC is working diligently to restore service to all members as quickly as possible.

It might be helpful for us to remind members about the nature of the distribution system and our power restoration process. Here are a few details that should help make sense:

• Our Co-op has 30 substations that serve portions of 14 counties. Radial lines exit the substation, typically with three phases (A,B &C) and each phases carries 7,200 or 14,400 volts of electricity. Take-off lines (single phase) will branch off the major circuit to serve home and businesses in neighborhoods, coves and valleys on each side of the three phase line. Service lines drop off of the single phase lines to provide power to individual homes or businesses.
  
• Some members may be without power because a major circuit out of a substation has tripped and de-energized. When the fault is located and cleared, then power is restored to that circuit, turning the lights back on for hundreds of people. Electricity will flow out along that major circuit to the end, unless it encounters another fault location, such as a tree on the line, broken pole, or line on the ground. If that occurs, a protective device, such as a recloser, will operated and de-energize that section of line and beyond. Power will continue to flow through the initial portion of the circuit.
  
• Often during an outage one phase may be hot on a three-phase line, while the other two are de-energized, resulting in one side of the road having electric service while there is an outage on the other side of the road.
  
• Other outages may be located along a tap line that services a small neighborhood. Crews will need to clear every fault between the substation and that individual tap line before local repairs will have any benefit. The electricity needs to flow through major circuits in order to reach local neighborhoods.
  
• Often two adjoining farms or homes will be served by different tap lines, and one may have electric service and the other may be without power. The same affect will be seen if a fuse is blown on the member’s transformer pole.
  
  

Having provided these reminders, it can help members to understand that the field crew’s work begins at the substation and then they move out along major lines, clearing faults as they go and attempting to re-energize the lines. As they proceed, they will find more fault locations farther down line and those must be cleared. Crews will attempt to re-energize tap lines as they go and may have to make repairs on those as well. The final step in the process is the clean up individual outages.

Outage Update - June 30, 4 PM

CVEC crews continue to work on reducing outages in the CVEC service territory as 31 reinforcement linemen travel from a sister cooperative in another state.

Currently the Cooperative estimates that 8,000 members are without electric service, down from 15,000 outages at daybreak.

Transmission service has been restored to a number of CVEC substations after repairs were made by Dominion and AEP, the owners and operators of the lines that deliver power to CVEC. That has helped to reduce the outage total and allowed CVEC linemen to begin restoration work on the distribution lines.

Until Verizon restores Internet and voice service to CVEC, members will be unable to call in an outage, report one online, or view the outage map for updates on restoration efforts. Without that critical data, CVEC does not have the predictive capabilities to identify fault locations based upon outage reporting patterns.

Cooperative field personnel are patrolling lines, making repairs on three phase lines, replacing broken poles and restoring service at know fault locations. Crews will work their way out from the substation until the reach the end of the major circuits and then work tap lines where individual outages might remain.

Substations areas with significant outage totals include:

• Martins Store and Piney River in western Nelson County,

• Whitehall and Midway in western Albemarle County,
  

• Schuyler and Gladstone in eastern Nelson County,
  

• As well as Appomattox, Colleen and Curdsville substations.
  
  

In addition there are other small to medium sized areas affected by power outages that are also being worked by line crews.

This storm has caused significant damage and, while CVEC expects to reduce the number of total outages in the first 24 hours of restoration, clearly work will continue through Sunday and likely early next week until the last outage is resolved. The last few hundred outages always take longer to clear since they are often at the end of a small line serving a few, if not a single home.

CVEC will provide a final report later this evening or early tomorrow morning depending on the progress that we make in the field.

Outage Update - June 30, 11 AM

Areas hit hardest extend from the Whitehall area, south through the Rockfish Valley, Wintergreen, Roseland, Massies Mill and Long Mountain. In addition, Appomattox and Buckingham Counties also saw extended outages, while the Louisa and Fluvanna Counties sections of the CVEC service territory were less impacted. CVEC had an estimated 15,000 members without power early Saturday morning.

High winds created several issues that include:

* Transmission lines, owned and operated by Dominion and AEP were damaged, terminating the delivery of power to CVEC substations. Service to Mount Rush in Buckingham has been restored.

* Internet and voice communications are not available to CVEC, preventing members from reporting outages and receiving information about the extent of the damage and the efforts to restore service. CVEC is waiting for the restoration of telecommunications service.

* The outage map normally available on the internet is not available due to communications issues.  Normally member calls are received and recorded in the outage management system and that data is used to predict where reclosers and fuses have operated in the field.

* A transmission line owned by CVEC that delivers power to the the Martins Store Substation in Nelson County and to substations that service the Wintergreen community was knocked out of service. Repairs have been made and CVEC is has re-energized that transmissionline.

* Once power begins flowing to the substations, CVEC crews will continue the repair work on the distribution system. There area numerous broken poles and downed lines between the CVEC substations and the homes and businesses served by CVEC.

CVEC crews are in the field and two dozen linemen are travelling from a sister Cooperative to help with restoration efforts. Updates will be provided as additional information becomes available.