Mayor Freddie O’Connell said Sunday that both the pace of power restoration and the communication surrounding it have failed to meet expectations, following a meeting with Nashville Electric Service leadership.
O’Connell said he and members of the mayor’s office met with NES leaders and other Metro officials to reiterate concerns raised by residents after days without power following last week’s ice storm.
The mayor said NES was not equipped to communicate effectively during a crisis and criticized the utility for withholding internal outlook details that could have shaped public guidance earlier in the recovery.
"Nashvillians can’t get the last week back—nights huddled under blankets, unplanned shelter or hotel stays, the uncertainty and fear of not knowing what’s happening and how long it will take to simply return home,” O’Connell said, calling the lack of transparency "unacceptable."
NES leadership told the mayor there are no additional barriers Metro could remove to speed up restoration. O’Connell said the utility expects to add about 500 additional linemen within the next 24 hours and has improved its restoration estimates. He said he pressed NES to exceed even its most optimistic timelines and vowed to hold the utility accountable.
O’Connell also acknowledged the work of line crews, thanking those working around the clock to restore power across the city.
Read his full statement below:
Today, I and members of the mayor’s office staff and other key Metro leaders met with NES leadership to reiterate: neither the pace of power restoration nor the communications surrounding it has met my expectations. Nor those of Nashvillians.
What I learned today is that NES is unequipped to communicate about a crisis. Nashvillians can’t get the last week back—nights huddled under blankets, unplanned shelter or hotel stays, the uncertainty and fear of not knowing what’s happening and how long it will take to simply return home. And that’s why it’s so troubling that details NES leadership shared about their internal outlook—that they hadn’t previously shared with us—would’ve had a huge impact on the public guidance we gave from the beginning of the crisis. That is unacceptable.
But NES claims there’s reason for hope. From the perspective of NES leadership, there are no further barriers that Metro could remove to speed up their work. Over the next 24 hours, they’re anticipating adding another 500 linemen to join their efforts; their restoration estimates have improved, and I pushed them to overperform even their best estimates for restoration of power. And Nashvillians and I are going to hold them accountable.
Through all this, I appreciate the dedicated people in the line crews working around the clock to get the power back on for all of us.
