NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A new independent report released late today reveals Nashville Electric Service was unprepared for the January ice storm that left thousands of Nashvillians without power for nearly two weeks.
Commissioned by NES and conducted by an independent firm, the initial review found the utility had no plan for an outage of that magnitude.
The report states NES had no way to predict how many crews it would need and lacked a reliable system to tell customers when their power would be restored.
At the peak of the storm, more than 231,000 customers lost power, representing almost half of all NES customers.
It took 16 days to fully restore service.
For the first seven of those days, customers received no estimated restoration time.
The report also found the chain of command broke down during the crisis, with two critical leadership positions left completely unstaffed.
NES insists it is committed to improving its infrastructure and customer service.
NewsChannel 5 will continue reviewing the preliminary report and have more details in the coming days.
NES will discuss the report at its board meeting on Wednesday.
In the meantime, a sudden storm Thursday night blew through Nashville, cutting power for 43,000 NES customers.
For neighbors like Martha Overholt, it's a flashback to January's winter storm and being in the dark for nearly a week.
"It's an expense, and it's very frustrating," she said.
In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Nashville mayor Freddie O'Connell weighed in as well, saying he is aware of the report's contents.
"I do think there is more that can be done, and we'll explore that with NES together," he said.
