Virginians are using more energy than ever before, and Dominion Virginia Power on Tuesday announced plans for $9.5 billion in infrastructure and upgrade projects in the next five years to generate that power and transport it to people’s homes.

“Our goal is always to make wise investments to keep rates low and reliability high,” said Bonita Billingsley Harris, media and community relations manager for Dominion Virginia Power. “That’s what our customers expect and deserve from us.”

Harris said Virginia has seen the highest demand for electricity in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection, an organization that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of 13 states and Washington, D.C.

“We have a lot of work to do in Virginia, and that’s what we do,” Harris said.

The company plans to invest nearly $2 billion per year in the next five years to expand and upgrade the electric grid and add new power generation, including solar energy.

Of the $9.5 billion planned capital expenditures through 2020, $2.4 billion is slated for the company’s distribution system, $3.6 billion for transmission lines and substations, and $3.5 billion for new generation and environmental improvements. Included in those amounts are $700 million for new solar generation and additional funds for putting vulnerable distribution lines underground, if approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission.

Harris said quite a number of projects in Suffolk and surrounding areas are among the projects planned.

The project to improve the crossing of the Nansemond River, for which a public interest meeting was held last week, is among those, Harris said.

So is a million-dollar upgrade to a conductor in the Benn’s Church area, she added.

A few specific locations where upgrades and expansions will take place in Suffolk include Oakridge to Plover Drive, Oakridge/Indian Trail to Kenyon Road; Benn’s Church to the Godwin Boulevard, Harrell’s to Greenway Road; and Myrtle to Simons Drive.

About 15 locations have been pinpointed to get improvements through the Strategic Underground Program, which puts power lines in troublesome spots underground to prevent them being knocked out during storms.

Some work with transformers also will increase reliability in the downtown area, Harris said.

The $9.5 billion investment does not include the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a $5 billion project being built by a sister company.

“We know our customers expect high reliability, clean energy and reasonable rates,” said Robert M. Blue, president of Dominion Virginia Power. “We focus on that in everything we do, from building new infrastructure to day-to-day maintenance and fast storm response. Our modern way of life requires lots of energy — and that means infrastructure.”

Blue said that since 2008, the company has invested more than $8 billion in new electricity infrastructure, including environmental control equipment designed to reduce fossil power station air emissions.

“Over the same period, our reliability has improved 25 percent,” he said. “Our reliability in 2015 was 99.98 percent — which translates into approximately two hours of outage time per customer over the whole year.” To get good comparative year-to-year data across the industry, Dominion and other utilities typically do not include outages from major storms in reliability measures.

Dominion’s electric rates remain significantly lower than national, regional and state averages, according to a press release. In recent years, residential rates have increased by an average of less than 1 percent annually.

“Our customers have saved money on their electric bills through that effort, and it led to cleaner air and a stronger grid,” Blue said.

In addition, Dominion’s EnergyShare program is being significantly expanded with $57 million from Dominion over five years, with a special focus on needy veterans and people with disabilities.