For at least the fourth time since late June, Dominion customers in Ballston and Virginia Square area are without power.
The outage started around 2 a.m. this morning, residents tell ARLnow, and an outage map shows it affecting roughly the same area as previous outages on June 24, July 15 and July 23.
As of 8:30 a.m., according to Dominion’s website, just over 650 customers in the area were still without power, which is down from earlier in the morning.
“This is the third one in a month (maybe a bit longer), in exactly the same area,” wrote one frustrated resident, via email. “For the previous two outages, Dominion’s outage maps were virtually on top of each other… My question is, what is happening and why can’t Dominion resolve the situation, once and for all, so these outages don’t keep recurring?”
Multiple residents said they have yet to receive a definitive answer to questions about what’s causing the outages. One online rumor posits that it’s being caused by a repeated equipment failure at or near the Capitals Iceplex. Other residents point to equipment replacement work along N. Pollard Street, at the Quincy Plaza apartment complex, that Dominion originally planned for tonight.
Aisha Khan, media and community relations manager for Dominion, confirmed that the company is replacing equipment.
“The ongoing outage affecting two high rise buildings with 591 customers at the N. Fairfax Drive and N. Pollard Street, is needed to replace the equipment in a vault,” Khan said. “This outage was originally planned to start tonight at 8:00PM. However, the equipment caused another outage in the area this morning.”
“Due to the condition of the switch and transformers in the vault, it was determined the switch cannot be re-energized before being replaced,” she added.
Asked about the other outages, Khan said the placement of equipment in the highly populated area has made it difficult to identify and fix the problem.
“The circuit is 100% underground in that area and locating the problem can take time as majority of the equipment is in vaults,” she said.
