Fredericksburg, Va. -Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) recognizes the hardships that the public health crisis imposes on our member-owners.
Out of concern for our members and their communities, REC along with the other 11 electric cooperatives in the Commonwealth is waiving service disconnects and related fees for residential member-owners during this crisis. REC will continue to work with business, commercial and industrial member-owners to mitigate the impact of the state emergency until further notice.
During this challenging time, REC will be doing its part to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus while providing the electric service necessary to keep our member-owners comfortable as they adjust to changes in their daily routines.
First, REC is following the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and our local health officials regarding how to protect our workforce so that we will be able to respond efficiently in case of a power outage. Our dispatch center remains open 24-7 for outage reporting, and crews are on standby, ready to respond if or when an outage occurs. We strongly encourage member-owners to use remote payment options such online payments, U.S. Postal mail, credit card payments by phone, or, if in-person payments are required, to use one of the payment kiosks located at each office.
We have also eliminated employee travel to meetings and are limiting vendor visits into our offices. Unfortunately, this means our employees will not be participating in community events, where we normally enjoy meeting and engaging with our member-owners. For the weeks ahead, it is more important to practice "social distancing." We look forward to resuming our community involvement when the threat has passed.
We are closely monitoring this quickly evolving situation. REC will take prudent actions as may be necessary to protect and continue serving our communities. This includes limiting the exposure of our employees and their families. We will consult and coordinate with state and local officials, our business partners, and other utilities to continue serving you to the best of our abilities.
REC provides electric service to over 170,000 connections in parts of 22 Virginia counties. With its general office in Fredericksburg, Va., the Cooperative operates and maintains more than 17,000 miles of power lines through its service area, which ranges from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay. For more information about REC, please visitwww.myrec.coop. Follow REC on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.