CAYCE, S.C. (OCT. 7, 2024) – Dominion Energy estimates power will be restored to approximately 95 percent of customers across each county in its South Carolina service territory by 11 p.m. Wednesday. This includes Aiken, Edgefield and McCormick counties, which were among the areas most ravaged by Hurricane Helene.  Crews continue to work around the clock to get the lights back on for the approximately 5,000 customers who were without power as of 10 a.m. Monday.

Work is expected to continue through mid-week across the densely wooded terrain where Helene’s historic reach inland snapped thousands of trees, which brought down miles of poles and lines. The vastness of the damage has severely limited access for utility crews who have deployed tracked equipment, all-terrain vehicles, pontoon boats and helicopters to aid in the response.

More than 4,000 Dominion Energy employees and additional out-of-state crews have worked nonstop in South Carolina since Helene destructively blew through. Since the start of the unprecedented recovery work, they have restored power to more than 440,000 customers.

“I’ve worked many storms over my 36 years with the company, but I’ve never had this many linemen in such a confined geographic area,” said Keller Kissam, president of Dominion Energy South Carolina. “Of course, I’ve never seen an area busted in the chops like this one. The devastation is unbelievable. We are so appreciative of how Team South Carolina has rallied to recover from this destruction and opened their hearts by providing meals and space for our crews to sleep. We’re grateful for everyone’s prayers.  When people do that for you, it makes you want to stay up 24 hours a day, seven days a week and give every ounce of measure that you have left in order to serve them.”

Crews can only repair electric service up to a home’s point of connection. If a customer has any storm damage from the weatherhead down to its meter base, an electrician must repair it before Dominion Energy can reconnect power to the home. Having any required repairs completed before crews arrive can save time in restoring power.

For more information visit Dominion Energy’s Outage Restoration & FAQs page.

As crews diligently continue restoration work in response to Helene, Dominion Energy is also monitoring and preparing for potential impacts from Hurricane Milton. The company encourages customers to prepare now.

For more information and tips, visit dominionenergy.com/hurricane-preparedness.

About Dominion Energy

Dominion Energy (NYSE: D), headquartered in Richmond, Va., provides regulated electricity service to 3.6 million homes and businesses in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and regulated natural gas service to 400,000 customers in South Carolina. The company is one of the nation’s leading developers and operators of regulated offshore wind and solar power and the largest producer of carbon-free electricity in New England. The company’s mission is to provide the reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy that powers its customers every day. Please visit DominionEnergy.com to learn more.