NES board overhaul prompts ‘power grab’ concerns from Nashville lawmakers

Nashville Electric Service’s board could soon be overhauled.

A bill requiring utilities to include board representatives from surrounding counties has passed both the House and the Senate.

The measure is specific in that it only applies to electric companies that serve 50,000 customers outside their home county, and only applies to city-owned utilities that provide solely electricity. Effectively, this means the bill will only impact one utility in the state: the Nashville Electric Service. The legislature has been eyeing changes to the company ever since Winter Storm Fern caused mass outages in Middle Tennessee.

“All this bill is doing is to ensure that people who pay electricity rates, that they have an opportunity to have a say in the governance of that utility,” said Republican Sen. Brent Taylor, from Memphis, who sponsored the measure.

The bill would require NES to add board members from each county where it operates that has more than 3,500 customers. Currently, in addition to Davidson, NES meets that threshold in Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties.

Sen. Majority Leader Jack Johnson, who represents Williamson County, said he heard from many constituents affected by the storm.

“It’s very frustrating when you have to tell your constituents that, ‘Well, the board of that municipal utility that provides electricity to you — all of the appointments are from a Nashville elected official,’ ” Johnson said. “There is no one who is accountable to you. It is electrification without representation.”

Earlier this session, a similar bill was introduced, although it would have impacted utilities in Knoxville and Chattanooga, as well as Nashville. That bill failed in committee. But, Rep. Clark Boyd, a Republican from Wilson County, re-filed House Bill 2592 to bring back the board overhaul, which saw approval in both chambers Monday night.

Nashville lawmakers say the storm is being used as an excuse to “wrest control” from the city.

“This is just pure targeting,” Sen. Jeff Yarbro said. “And it’s pure targeting for what? Being someone who was affected by the recent winter storm, I defy you to find any logic that would say that any of those problems were caused by the lack of geographic diversity of the board.”

Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, said that board representation has no impact on service.

“Goodness, quite literally talking about a power grab here,” Campbell said. “We have disparity in representation all over the place in this state. I would say that people of color are not represented equally in this legislature considering the population of our state. But, I mean, the idea that you have to have representation to get service is ludicrous.”

Others — including utility representatives at committee hearings and Senate Democrats — expressed concern about proportionality.

To address that, the House version includes an amendment that could allow Davidson County to add more board members if membership from surrounding counties exceeded the number of home county representatives.

On Monday, both chambers approved the overall bill. Because the House measure included additional amendments, the Senate must decide whether to adopt that version.