WASHINGTON — With several days to track incoming snow, local power companies have been evaluating whether they need to enlist help from other regions as part of a mutual aid agreement.
The heaviest snow is forecast for areas north and west of the District, so BGE has already asked for assistance even before the first flake has fallen.
“We’ve been on mutual assistance calls,” said spokesman Justin Mulcahy. “We’re getting some assistance today, coming from the Midwest and the South.”
Mulcahy said approximately 200 contractors will be available to supplement BGE crews if heavy snow knocks out power lines.
Virginia, statewide, will see far less snow.
“Right now we don’t anticipate the impact is going to require us to ask for any aid from outside companies,” said Chuck Penn, media relations director for Dominion Energy.
Penn said Dominion’s customers are broken into three regions — Northern Virginia, Richmond metropolitan and Hampton Roads/Tidwater.
Only Northern Virginia is expected to see large amounts of snow, Penn said.
“Unless all three regions are going to be impacted, we will bring our own folks in from other regions,” Penn said. “We don’t expect it will be a real impact in our eastern regions, which is Hampton Roads and Tidewater. So we’ll be bringing in field personnel from there.”
Marcus Beal, of Pepco, said the company has had several days to prepare and evaluate, and doesn’t feel extra personnel will be needed to address any outages.
