Dominion Virginia Power Establishes New Toll-Free Customer Service Telephone Number

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Mar 01, 2010, 08:13 ET

RICHMOND, Va., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion Virginia Power has established a new, easy-to-remember customer service telephone number: 1-866-DOM-HELP.

"We believe this new toll-free number will be much easier for everyone to remember than our former one," said Paul Koonce, chief executive officer of Dominion Virginia Power. "Our customers have told us they do not want to search for our number, especially in lights-out situations. Establishing this new number is just one more way we hope to make it easier for customers to reach us."

Dominion Virginia Power, with 2.4 million customers, receives about 7 million calls per year, many during major storm and lights-out situations. For example, the company received more than 268,000 calls during the recent historic winter storm.

The new 1-866-DOM-HELP number (1-866-366-4357) is active. The original number, 1-888-667-3000, will remain active as well. Users of handheld devices, such as BlackBerry, should refer to the owner's handbook for instructions on how to dial vanity numbers such as this.

The company will be informing people about the new customer service number in several different ways, including customer bills, bill inserts, customer newsletters, news media reports and on-hold messaging when customers call the original company number.

Customers may want to program the new number into their telephone's speed dial memory, especially if they use a cell phone as their home phone.

It is important to ensure your home phone number or cell phone number -- if you use that as a home phone -- is registered with the company. The company's automated phone system links incoming calls to the customer's service address to speed outage reporting and customer service.

Customers can register their phone numbers online at www.dom.com (keyword: manage your account) or by calling the company and speaking with a customer care associate. Only one phone number per customer can be registered.

The new, easier-to-remember number follows other improvements the company has made to improve customer service. These include providing more information about power outages, energy efficiency and individual customer usage patterns through the company's Web site, www.dom.com. Customers also give the company high marks for offering flexible payment options and being solutions-oriented when customers call.

"Our goal is to be here and to help when you need us," Koonce said. "That's why we chose this new number. We believe customers will find 1-866-DOM-HELP easy to remember and easy to use."

Dominion (NYSE: D) is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of more than 27,500 megawatts of generation. Dominion operates the nation's largest natural gas storage system and serves retail energy customers in 12 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com

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SOURCE Dominion Virginia Power