Dominion Resources expects 1,000 employees to accept buyouts

Dominion Resources Inc., parent company of Dominion Virginia Power, has offered a buyout package to 4,800 eligible employees - just under half of its work force in Virginia.

Dominion, based in Richmond, expects about 1,000 of those who are eligible to take the buyout. The offer is available to employees of Dominion Virginia Power, the power plants that serve its territory - including the Chesapeake Energy Center coal plant and Surry Power Station nuclear plant - and the service divisions that support the utility, which provides electricity to about 2.3 million customers in the state.

Dominion employs about 2,500 workers from Williamsburg to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, among about 10,000 in Virginia.

Employees 55 or older who have worked for Dominion for at least three years are eligible for the buyout. It includes two months' paid administrative leave, plus one month of pay for each year of service up to 18 years. They also will receive six months of their medical and life insurance. Workers have until Friday to request the package.

Dominion will have final approval of the requests to ensure that no departures affect service, said Jim Norvelle, a company spokesman. "We want to accommodate all we can," he said, "but we still want to keep the lights on."

Dominion is looking to cut expenses in anticipation of some financial challenges over the coming years, Norvelle said. During the recession, energy prices have been relatively flat or declining.

The effort to reduce the work force has nothing to do with Dominion Virginia Power's pending regulatory case to raise its base rates, Norvelle said. Two weeks ago, Dominion presented an alternative settlement in the case, agreeing to return to its previous rates and grant refunds to customers.

The company has no specific target for a number of employees to take the buyout but expects it won't need to do layoffs, Norvelle said.