title
A resolution expressing a lack of confidence in the performance and leadership of Electric Power Board of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County for its failures during Winter Storm Fern.
body
WHEREAS, Winter Storm Fern brought severe and prolonged freezing conditions to Nashville and Davidson County, resulting in widespread outages that left large portions of the community without heat, electricity, or essential services for extended periods; and
WHEREAS, Nashville Electric Service ("NES") did not adequately prepare its infrastructure, nor request adequate line workers for the operations for the emergency; and
WHEREAS, this failure placed residents, particularly our vulnerable populations, at significant risk, strained emergency services, and eroded public trust in NES's ability to fulfill its obligations to the community; and
WHEREAS, in the days and weeks and months after the storm, the Electric Power Board of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County ("Electric Power Board") provided no accountability for NES's failures during and after the storm; and
WHEREAS, members of the board did not and have not questioned various important pieces of NES' failures, including whether enough staff and contractors were prepared to work before the storm began; and
WHEREAS, members of the board have not called for disciplinary action of NES staff members as a result of this storm response; and
WHEREAS, the Electric Power Board received an interim after-action report on April 15, 2026, that detailed multiple NES failures during the course of the winter storm; and
WHEREAS, the report confirmed what was already known. There were not enough line workers called in before the storm, and additional failures included an emergency response plan incapable of enduring a large-scale disaster, an incident command structure without necessary continuity, a failure to create a damage prediction model or a reliable method to estimate resource...
Click here for full text