Manassas Power Outages
A transformer malfunction at the Prince William Substation left nearly 4,000 residents and businesses in the dark Sunday night — the third major outage in just over a week to hit the city.
City officials said the outage began around 9:30 p.m. when a bushing failed on a transformer, triggering an automatic shutdown of part of the system. Crews were dispatched immediately and used backfeeding, a method of rerouting electricity through alternate lines, to restore service. Power was fully restored by 10:30 p.m.
Nearly 3,800 Manassas residents and businesses lost power Sunday night, the third major outage in just over a week to darken parts of the city and renew questions about grid reliability.
As of 9:50 p.m., the city reported 3,731 customers without power, concentrated in downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. Streets affected include Main, Center, Church, Battle, Grant, and Prince William Streets — covering much of the city’s historic core. Power was also out along portions of Wellington Road, Euclid Avenue, and Mathis Avenue.
Just days after Dominion Energy’s feed failure darkened large sections of Manassas, a separate power outage hit the city’s downtown area early Wednesday, October 16 — this time caused by a blown manhole inside the city’s own distribution system.
City spokesman Jeremy Beale said the incident was unrelated to the Dominion outage on October 11, which knocked out the Battery Heights and Prince William substations and affected about 6,000 customers.
City crews responded quickly, and all power was back on by 11:39 a.m. Residents still experiencing issues are encouraged to contact Manassas City Utilities at 703-257-8353.
Here’s the full press release:
MANASSAS, Va. – About 270 homes in Manassas are without electricity as city crews work to fix a faulty underground electric cable.
According to a message from the City of Manassas, the outage is affecting customers in the Stonewall, Piney Point, Willow Glen, Laurelwood, Landgreen, Liberia, Whispering Pine, Willowbrook, Silver Maple, and Firethorn neighborhoods.?
MANASSAS, Va. — A bird caused a power outage at UVA Prince William Medical Center on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, marking the second disruption to the city’s electric service in less than a week and raising new questions about the reliability and cost of Manassas’ electric utility.
City officials said the bird came into contact with utility lines near the hospital, damaging a transformer. The hospital, which has three backup power options, quickly switched to an alternate source, restoring power soon after the incident. However, the hospital later experienced a separate internal breaker trip, leaving one building without electricity for a short time.
Nearly 1,800 customers were affected by a power outage that struck just before 10 a.m. on Friday, October 18, 2024, impacting residents and businesses across several areas, including Farmington Court, Hasting Drive, and Nantucket Court.
Crews are currently working to repair two underground connections that caused the outage. As of the latest update, power has been restored to the majority of affected customers, but 37 homes and businesses remain without electricity. Officials expect power to be fully restored within one to two hours as crews continue to make repairs.
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As the Manassas City Council is fresh off its retreat to Airlie Hotel and Conference Center in Warrenton and set to begin budget talks, Manassas City Councilwoman Theresa Coates Ellis emphasized distinguishing between wants and needs when making decisions that impact the community. She stressed that council members serve as stewards of taxpayer money and must prioritize choices for the betterment of the community.
“When it comes to the budget, we have to look at wants and needs,” Coates Ellis stated. “We’re going to go through the budget highlights from last year to see where we are and where we’re going. There will be some wants and needs brought up from the departments.”