Thousands of households in Great Falls were without power following the severe storms that visited Northern Virginia on August 13. As residents spent the weekend cleaning up debris, electric company crews worked to restore lost power caused by the many fallen trees that caused extensive damage throughout the community.

Since at least 2014, members of the Great Falls Citizens Association and other residents of the community have met with Dominion Energy to find solutions to the ongoing problem of old trees falling on exposed power lines and causing significant electrical outages. The adverse impacts of these disruptions are even more painful since most residents rely on wells for their water supply — no power means no water. 

Over the past several years Dominion has developed a model it calls “Strategic Underground” which focuses on shortening the restoration period of power outages that occur following major storms. The program calls for identifying the worst areas of service disruptions, surveying the most effective routes for placing the lines underground and determining the properties to be crossed, obtaining the necessary easements from the property owners, and commencing the work of burying the lines.

Although other factors involved in the decisions as to where to place lines underground include the cost, the need to protect mature trees, and the desire to have an area-wide system that restores power to commercial areas and higher densities first (but not solely), Dominion has stated that obtaining the easements is a big determinant in whether a given project will proceed or be abandoned. Among community leaders, it is believed that more than a few homeowners are hesitant to grant easements to utility companies. If only one owner of a property where an easement is needed refuses, then that project is cancelled and Dominion moves along to another neighborhood. 

Although Dominion has demonstrated its commitment to using its resources to restoring power as quickly as possible after an event, including improving service reliability through its Strategic Underground initiative, its task would be made more fruitful, according to community leaders, if all private property owners were encouraged to cooperate with the utility companies in their efforts to reduce lines’ exposure to severe weather by placing them underground and off of the poles.

(see slideshow, below)