Dominion Energy has traced the cause of a power surge in the Kingsmill area to a “software issue,” according to a Dominion official.
About 250 people lost power in Kingsmill Wednesday afternoon after a surge ran through the power lines, causing 44 fire department calls, according to James City County and Dominion officials.
The emergency calls, starting around 3:39 p.m., included two structure fires, two transformer fires, 13 alarms and 27 calls for electrical shorts or the smell of smoke, a James City County news release reported.
Dominion spokeswoman Bonita Harris said the software issue was “internal” and was not caused by outside parties tampering with the software “as far as we know.”
The issue affected the area served by the Kingsmill substation with “power and voltage” issues, she said. The average time without power was between five and six hours.
Harris said Dominion will work with customers who experienced damage from the surge on a case-by-case basis. Customers who experienced damage should report it to both their insurance companies and Dominion’s customer service.
“We certainly recognize this is an inconvenience for a lot of people,” Harris said. “It’s also scary when [a power surge] happens and we understand that.”
Harris added it has been difficult to pinpoint the exact number of houses affected. There are about 3,000 customers served on the Kingsmill power line.
Harris said power surges can be caused by equipment failure, vehicle accidents, weather conditions such as lightning and more.
To protect themselves against power surges, Harris said customers can have whole-house or equipment-specific surge protectors installed.
“Weather and equipment failures are rare and unpredictable, but they can have a negative impact on electric systems,” Harris said. “We will continue to look for innovative solutions to further mitigate these challenges.”
To report damage, call Dominion’s Customer Service Center at 1-866-DOM-HELP.
