NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The calls for accountability are growing louder as NES promises an outside review of its response to the winter storm.
The utility's board of directors held a special meeting this morning and echoed what both local and state leaders have been saying for weeks: leaders did not live up to the standards our community expects.
This is the most expensive storm in NES history.
The goal is to make sure rates don't rise as a result, but NES is also looking at staffing levels and tree trimming.
NES board members questioned the CEO about communication during the storm, concerned that NES was not able to give people a timeline about how long power would be out.
In prepared remarks, CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin said, "I'm clear that we did not meet the expectations of our customers, particularly with how we communicated critical information to them."
Members of the five-person NES Board questioned why the utility sent out inaccurate text messages telling people their power had been restored when it had not.
They also said NES should have set expectations about long outages based on the tremendous damage the storm did to the power grid.
The storm broke nearly 800 utility poles and cost NES more than $100 million in damage.
Board members approved an independent, "unbiased" review of the NES response that "focuses on facts and not politics."
NES usually limits public comments at its meetings to five people.
At this meeting, the board allowed ten speakers.
Two Metro Council members talked about the hardships their constituents had during the outage.
The union representative for NES employees said NES needs to hire more linemen to keep up with Nashville's growth.
"The number of linemen, the number of customer service reps, just the size of the employees hasn't grown," said Mauralee Albert with SEIU.
Board members also questioned tree trimming.
As NewsChannel 5 Investigates first reported, just two months before the storm hit, an NES internal risk management audit warned of "inadequate vegetation management and maintenance." ... that could "increase the frequency and duration of outages."
Records show NES spent nearly $7 million less on tree trimming from fiscal year 2023 to 2025.
NES responded in the Risk Management Assessment and said vegetation management was placed under new management in fiscal year 2024.
The utility said "unforeseen challenges prevented trimming sufficient miles" in 2025.
NES CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin insisted NES had not cut its tree trimming budget, but in this board meeting, the Executive Vice President Brent Baker admitted tree trimming needed to be modernized and increased.
"The teams have already begun this effort, but we definitely are not to the point where we want to be and where we will be," Baker said.
When we asked NES why it was behind on tree trimming in 2025, it sent the following statement:
"In FY2025, planned work on four heavily vegetated circuits in the areas of Davidson Road, Goodlettsville and Whites Creek led to fewer miles trimmed than in some prior years. These circuits required more intensive trimming effort and resources, which skewed annual mileage comparisons. Overall, the results of FY2025 reflect planned, risk-based prioritization, and NES continued to reset its strategy to gain efficiency and enhance its vegetation management practices. "
Doug Roberts has been an NES lineman for 29 years.
He said people fight against tree trimming because they don't want their trees damaged.
"You go through an affluent part of town, they don't want their trees, quote unquote 'massacred,'" Roberts said.
He also pushed back against the idea of firing top NES officials.
"I don't want to see them, I don't see how you start over with someone else because it's a whole new learning curve for those individuals," Roberts said.
NES management could use the support.
The board wants to get the review back quickly.
