What to do when the power goes out
If you’re just a little bit (or probably a lot) paranoid about power outages during hurricane season this year, don’t forget about a couple of tools from Dominion that can help keep you up to date on outages in your area.
If you’re just a little bit (or probably a lot) paranoid about power outages during hurricane season this year, don’t forget about a couple of tools from Dominion that can help keep you up to date on outages in your area.
The Dominion outage map allows you to locate and highlights outages near you. You can also see how many people are affected by the problem and an estimated restoration time.
The Dominion Storm Center also shows outages near the Richmond area per county, along with weather updates and other storm preparation and safety tips.
Don’t forget to report a power outage once it happens. Reporting your outage makes it easier for Dominion to service your area and get to the source of the problem. You can report an outage via the Dominion website or by calling 1-866-DOM-HELP, which can also be used to get updates on the status of your outage.
Bookmarking these pages ahead of time will make it easier to find them during an outage, and don’t forget to charge your cell phones ahead of time in case of power loss. During most storms, cell phones towers don’t lose service so you can usually rely on smartphones to connect to the internet if the power is out at home. When you know you’ve lost power, report the outage to Dominion and check back frequently for updates.
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If your neighborhood has trouble with grid power, find a neighbor who can put in a grid-tied solar system. By localizing a part of the power production, it forces the utility to upgrade the micro grid in your neighborhood in order to accommodate the distributed energy, thus making your neighborhood power more resilient. And if your neighbor can afford to make the system battery-tied as well as grid -tied, you then have a neighbor who will likely have power if the grid goes down, replenish able by the sun.
It’s worth noting that PPA’s, or purchase power agreements, are now making solar much more affordable and possible in Virginia. There was a conference on PPA’s earlier this morning at Virginia Union University. Do you have a neighborhood non-profit that could take advantage of a PPA? Make your neighborhood power more resilient by getting the non-profit to put in solar.
http://securefutures.us/2013/03/virginia-to-begin-pilot-ppa-program/