Utilities ready for Hurricane Dorian

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Dominion Energy says its teams are ready to respond to power outages and emergencies when Hurricane Dorian hits its South Carolina Service area.

The utility has about 2,000 employees and contract crew members, including linemen and damage assessors, on standby to respond to repair storm damage, according to a news release. The company said it also has brought in 140 off-system crew members and has the potential to call on hundreds more, if necessary.

With the current track of Hurricane Dorian, Dominion anticipates most of the damage will be along the S.C. coast. Customers can prepare for the storm by checking their accounts to make sure their information is updated. Outages can be reported and tracked at DominionEnergySC.com.

Dominion Energy maintains more than 21,000 miles of transmission and distribution power lines in South Carolina.

People are warned to stay away from downed power lines and to report them immediately by calling 888-333-4465.

Santee Cooper said it has moved to OpCon 2 alert status, meaning a threat to the utility’s electric system is imminent but effects are uncertain. The utility has more than 800 workers available to repair any storm-related damage and could add additional contract crews in the next few days, according to a news release.

Santee Cooper’s call center will be staffed 24 hours a day during and for a period of time after the storm. Customers can report outages at 1-888-769-7688 or at www.santeecooper.com/stormcenter.

“Santee Cooper will make every effort to keep electricity flowing to our 185,000 residential and commercial customers in Berkeley, Georgetown and Horry counties and our wholesale and industrial customers across the state,” Mark Bonsall, Santee Cooper president and CEO, said. “Our equipment is lined up, our vehicles are ready and we are finalizing details to be sure we can respond to outages as soon as we safely can.”