NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Some Nashville residents are bracing for potentially another week without power as winter weather continues to impact the region, with some facing estimated restoration dates as late as February 9, at last check.
In Green Hills, Jennifer DeStefanis is dealing with indoor temperatures as low as 35 degrees in her home in the zip code 37215.
Despite running a fire and heaters with help from a neighbor's generator, the cold persists throughout her house.
"This is our upstairs thermostat, it's currently at 35 degrees, it's battery powered," DeStefanis said.
She lives in a small subdivision, where about half the homes have power and the other half doesn’t.
"Approximately 10 homes received power, and now this whole side, of our neighborhood on the left hand side, no one has power," DeStefanis said.
DeStefanis received a text message last week that said her power was on, but it actually wasn’t
I reached out to Nashville Electric Service about this type of outage.
Below is their response explaining what is causing this, and what you should if you find yourself in a similar situation.
“When a customer's power has been restored but the home next door is still without power, that is called a "nested outage." A nested outage occurs when service is restored to a primary line, but secondary damage further down the grid, like downed lines or damaged equipment, continues to block power to the customer's home. Because the main repair was successful, our systems may incorrectly show that a customer's power has been restored. It is vital for customers to let us know that their power is still out. Customers can report the outage at 615-234-0000, by texting OUT to 637797.
While she’s thankful for the work the linemen are doing to bring power back, in the days to come, DeStefanis said she’d like to see better communication from Nashville Electric Service.
"When you get in these dire situations, and you know nothing, for 48 hours, it can really take a toll," DeStefanis said.
In Goodlettsville's 37072 zip code, Joel and Melissa Marquez are facing similar challenges with a February 9 restoration estimate at last check.
The couple is spending approximately $100 daily on generator fuel and food since they cannot cook at home.
"It's a long time for us, we're spending a lot of money, every day because we cannot cook, we cannot do anything here," Marquez said.
The family is running two heaters off their generator while hanging blankets in doorways to block drafts.
Like DeStefanis, the Marquez family wants more direct communication from utility crews about what's causing their specific outage.
"Come up here, walk these houses and let people know this is where you can go for food, this is where you can go for shelter, anything," Melissa said.
NES updates its power restoration estimates twice daily, and residents are encouraged to continue reporting outages to ensure their homes aren't overlooked in the restoration process.
Click here for the latest estimated restoration dates for power from Nashville Electric Service.
I reached out to NES for comment on this story. They provided me with the following statement.
We have assessed the entire service area and can now offer restoration completion dates for each zip code. Go to nespower.com to see the latest estimated restoration timing. The completion date estimates when the entire zip code will be re-energized. We will be working in all of our service territory until all customers are restored. Those areas that are taking longer to complete just have more damage than others.
In addition to the new restoration estimates, NES has developed and launched a specially created web-based tool – My Outage Tracker - that provides residential customers with individual household information about the status of their outage so they can know from remote places when their power has been restored.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robb.coles@newschannel5.com.
Here’s a beautiful story of how one mother turned her grief journey into a gathering of gratitude… and organ donation awareness.
Robb Coles highlights a special event organized by Cari Hollis – whose 26-year old son Austin died two years ago. Austin agreed to be an organ donor – and that single gesture saved multiple lives.
Cari reached out to as many recipients she could find – several of whom traveled to Nashville for an emotional celebration in Austin’s honor. One woman – whose life was saved by receiving Austin’s lungs – put it simply: “He’s my angel”.
- Rhori Johnston
