NOVEC crews working to restore power to 83 customers

Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative line and tree crews have been responding to a few power-outage reports since early on Saturday, Jan. 23, as Blizzard Jonas has coated the Mid-Atlantic region with more than two feet of snow in some areas, according to a news release.

“The dry snow is a blessing,” Larry Shaffer, NOVEC vice president of Electric Systems Operations was quoted as saying in a press release. “Wind is blowing snow off trees and branches, keeping most of them intact and off power lines. If we were getting wet snow and ice, we’d be dealing with a lot more outages.”

NOVEC crews, with assistance from Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania crews, have restored power quickly when outages have occurred, the release said.

What to do if the power goes out

Customers without power should report outages to NOVEC at 703-335-0500 or 1-888-335-0500 and follow the prompts from the Interactive Voice Recognition system. The IVR system will report the outage to NOVEC’s System Operations Center immediately.

Customers can also use NOVEC’s free app available at http://www.novec.com/apps or send a text message. To sign up for text messaging, customers can text the keyword NOVECOUT to 85700 or log onto their accounts on http://www.novec.com They .can learn more about what to do when the power goes out on NOVEC’s website.   

NOVEC warns customers to:

    ·  Only use electric generators that have been installed by licensed electricians outdoors for the safety of homeowners and NOVEC line technicians. 
    ·  Stay away from downed power lines and assume they are energized. Call NOVEC and 911 immediately.
    ·  Use flashlights or lanterns instead of candles. If candles must be used, keep them away from children, pets, furnishings, and monitor them at all times.