How Nashville utility NES scaled up ice storm recovery efforts
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The Nashville Electric Service reported just 50 customers without power last Saturday night following a day of mostly snow and some sleet.
- After an ice storm roared into town early Sunday morning, however, more than 230,000 customers lost power. The National Weather Service says Nashville saw an average of 0.42 inches of ice, which knocked down trees and snapped power lines in every direction.
Why it matters: The NES response is under scrutiny as the mass outage stretches into its sixth day.
By the numbers: Two charts tell the story of how NES added linemen to its response team and the rate at which they restored power.
- According to an NES press release, the utility company deployed 120 of its own linemen and 40 contract workers that Sunday morning.
- At that point, there were 180,000 customers without power.
Between the lines: On Friday morning, six days later, there were nearly 73,000 customers without power and 1,021 linemen in the field. NES added linemen through mutual aid agreements with other utility companies.
- Heading into the weekend, there were 257 additional workers clearing downed trees so the linemen could reach more damaged electrical components.
Catch up quick: NES has about 470,000 customers, making it one of the 11-largest utilities in the country. It employs about 1,000 people.
- The public utility purchases its electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority.
- The NES board of directors is appointed by the mayor. During his term, Mayor Freddie O'Connell has appointed two of the five board members.
- On Thursday, O'Connell said NES needs to improve its communication, including explaining the details of its repair work.
What we're watching: NES customers and some city officials criticized the agency for not saying when power is expected to be restored to specific parts of town.
- Metro Councilman Jacob Kupin released a statement to Axios on Friday calling for "the immediate release of the restoration timeline to all NES customers, stakeholders and government officials. This timeline should include minimum and maximum estimates of restoration."
- Kupin said the timeline would be an estimate, not a certainty, but "we deserve to know."