(The Center Square) – With some metropolitan Nashville customers still in the dark near two weeks after an ice storm, the Nashville Electric Service is facing questions from Republicans and Democrats.
More than 2,700 customers were still without power as of 1:34 p.m. CDT on Thursday, Feb. 5, according to the utility’s outage map.
More than 250,000 customers lost power when the storm hit the city on Jan. 25. The number is more than half of the utility’s 470,000 customer base.
Federal, state and local lawmakers are criticizing the response to the storm.
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., called for the firing of Nashville Electric’s leadership in a speech on the Senate floor.
U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., sent a letter to lawmakers asking the General Assembly to oversee the utility and audit the board. Tennessee state Rep. Johnny Garrett, R-Goodlettsville, introduced a resolution “condemning” Nashville Electric’s response and calling for the dismissal of CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin.
Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton criticized the utility’s decision to reduce tree trimming and to hold diversity trainings.
Nashville Electric’s “lack of a strategic disaster relief plan, pro-tree canopy policy and being more concerned about a DEI contract renewal – all of which jeopardized public safety – requires executive management to be fired and the board to be replaced. The General Assembly will explore every option available with the stance NES cannot stay the same,” Sexton wrote on social media.
Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, shot back at Republican claims on social media.
“The response to this has been bad, but it had nothing to do with tree-trimming decisions,” Campbell said. “No amount of trimming would’ve prevented a bit of this.”
The utility is overseen by the five-member Electric Power Board, which is appointed by Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell. The mayor issued an executive order creating a nine-member investigative commission to review the response to the storm. The Winter Storm Response Commission will include Vice Mayor Angie Henderson and Metro Council President Pro Tempore Delishia Porterfield. As of Thursday afternoon, O’Connell has not named the other members of the commission.
“As we complete our disaster response to Winter Storm Fern, I – and many Nashvillians – are looking for deeper accountability about our preparedness before the storm and responsiveness during the storm with regard to our electric grid,” O’Connell said. “And we want to hold ourselves accountable for the whole-of-government response.”
National Guard soldiers and linemen from other states have been in Music City to help restore power. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved $3.75 million in expedited federal funding to help Tennessee recover from the storm.
