‘We did not meet the expectations’: NES CEO admits problems as city begins storm investigation

One month out from the devastating impacts of Winter Storm Fern, a city-formed commission has begun investigating how Metro agencies — and, in particular, the Nashville Electric Service — responded to the storm.

The nine-person Winter Storm Response Commission is tasked with evaluating the city’s preparation and response to the snow and ice storm. The group, which has investigatory powers, is required to issue its initial findings in six months and to make policy recommendations within a year.

At the commission’s first meeting on Monday, leaders from Metro Water Services, Nashville’s Department of Transportation, the Nashville Office of Emergency Management and the Nashville Electric Service delivered briefings to the commission about their work.

NES has faced intense scrutiny after hundreds of thousands of Nashvillians went days without power and bungled communications, such as sending out faulty alerts informing residents their power had been restored when it had not. At the time, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said he was “not satisfied” with NES.

And, in NES’s report to the commission, CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin made it clear that some of that criticism was warranted.

“We did not meet the expectations of our customers through this storm,” Broyles-Aplin said Monday. “Through this storm, we did not provide the level of service and communications that our customers have come to expect from NES. We’ve historically had really good reliability. We’ve improved communications over the years. We were unable to deliver that through this storm.”

Broyles-Aplin said that the overloaded communication technology — she cited 11 million views of the outage map, 2.3 million text messages and 83,000 calls — was “not prepared for a scenario like this.”

The CEO said the utility is focused on improving, especially on estimated time process improvements, grid hardening, strategic undergrounding and technology for vegetation management.

In the storm’s aftermath, state lawmakers have looked to take action directed at NES.

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally has called for Broyles-Aplin’s firing (a viewpoint shared by some members of Nashville’s Metro Council). House Republicans have mused about converting NES to a member-owned cooperative and House Majority Leader William Lamberth has encouraged an overhaul of the city-appointed NES board.

Some Democratic lawmakers have urged their colleagues to wait until the Winter Storm Response Commission has finished its investigation.

The commission chair, former Gov. Phil Bredesen, said that the investigation could be a chance for the city and state to restore relations.

“I’ve watched from the outside over the years, the relationship of the city and the state kind of come apart,” Bredesen said. “And I think this is an opportunity to maybe do some rebuilding of trust.”

The Democratic Bredesen charged commissioner Beth Harwell, the former Republican Speaker of the House, to keep legislators on the hill informed of the commission’s actions.

Other members of the group, appointed by the mayor, include Nashville Vice Mayor Angie Henderson, Metro Councilmember Delishia Porterfield, local NAACP president Timothy Hughes, LiUNA Local 386 manager Ethan Link, media executive Cassandra Easley, Vanderbilt’s Director of Emergency Management Johnny Vanderpool and General Manager of Dickson Electric Darrell Gillespie.

The group has not yet determined when it will meet again. Meetings will be available to the public and feature a 20-minute public comment period.

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