Richmond man's message to Dominion Energy after 24 outages: 'Just do better'

RICHMOND, Va. — A Richmond man living near Chippenham Hospital has experienced 24 power outages and flickers since February 2025.

Now he wants answers from Dominion Energy.

"It happens all the time that it goes out, that it stays out maybe twice a month," Kenny Jones said adding outages at his home happen regularly.

A nearly 3.5-hour outage on Aug. 26 pushed Jones to his breaking point.

The power went out at 4:30 p.m. that day — just as his wife was starting to cook dinner — under clear skies and no severe weather.

"On the fairest of days, sunny days, no inclement weather, no forecast, no extreme weather conditions like today, bright and sunny. And I'm like, wow, how does that happen more when you think it wouldn't or shouldn't?" Jones said.

When asked if the Aug. 26 outage was the last straw, Jones didn't hesitate.

"Yeah, yeah, it really was because I was thinking to myself, you know, what am I paying for?" Jones said.

Jones said a Dominion lineman who responded to the outage urged him to file a complaint with the State Corporation Commission, which regulates Dominion Energy.

Jones also reached out to CBS 6.

"I said, you know, I think it's time to get in touch with Melissa Hipolit. I think enough is enough," Jones said.

Hipolit contacted Dominion on Jones' behalf, but because he had filed a complaint with the SCC, Dominion said the SCC would be the entity to follow up with him.

The SCC sent Jones an interruption report detailing all of the power outages and momentary power outages at his address and their causes.

According to the report:

2 recent outages were due to a failed underground cable

11 outages or flickers related to trees or bamboo vegetation overgrowth

8 outages or flickers listed as cause unknown

The interruption report from Dominion states the root cause for most of the outages is tree and vegetation growth.

The circuit was last trimmed in 2024, with the next trimming scheduled for 2028.

Dominion said grid planning and reliability will identify outage-prone areas on Jones' circuit and initiate remediation plans as needed.

The company said it will also work with forestry to perform spot trimming as needed.

His ask of Dominion is straightforward.

"Just do better. I'm not asking for a hand out or a hand up. I'm just asking for what I pay for. That's it, nothing more, nothing less," Jones said.

Jones said he will be watching closely to see if anything improves.

"It's all about the consumer. You know, you should do right by the consumer, the the little guy. You know, the ones that are paying your bills, the ones that are lining these top executive pockets," Jones said.

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