NES customers upset, powerless for 24 hours during winter blast, some power won't be restored until Christmas

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As of 5:45 p.m., Nashville Electric Service reports a little under 3,000 customers are still without power, after thousands of people spent most of their night without electricity.

NES Operations Manager Jack Baxter said the outages occurred after frigid temperatures caused dozens of their breakers to malfunction and caused several wires to burn, which left people without electricity.

The cold weather also put a strain on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s power grid, which forced TVA to implement rolling blackouts.

Power companies had to turn the power off for several minutes and every few hours to reduce the strain.

Baxter said 30 NES crews have been working long shifts overnight and throughout the day trying to restore power to everyone. He said there are no additional planned rotating blackouts from TVA. He said that is going to help them speed up restoration efforts.

"Weather is a little better today. We’ve got some sunshine and it is a little warmer. It won’t be as cold tonight. We don’t have the wind chills, so all of those things are going to play a role in helping us pick up the pace with power restoration," NES Operations Manager Jack Baxter said.

Baxter said some customers will spend another night without power. Their goal is to have it all restored by Christmas.

NES will have about 20 crews working overnight on Christmas Eve to speed up the process.

Since so many NES customers went without power for over 24 hours, they had to figure out creative ways to stay warm.

All of them are grateful for the crews working long shifts, but many of them are still unhappy customers.

"We tried to thug it out as long as we could to the point it was so cold our hands and feet were hurting," NES customer Paprika Owens-Lloyd explained.

Single mom Owens-Lloyd traveled from Antioch, a hard-hit area, to Brentwood to find a hotel to stay in on Friday night.

"I had to make a huge sacrifice at the last minute by missing a day of work, number 1. Number 2, having to pay for the hotel room that’s not a part of my budget, which cut into my Christmas money," Owens-Lloyd said.

Over in East Nashville, in the Shelby Park community, many residents spent most of their day without power too.

"The temperature in our house went from about 70 degrees to — last night, it dropped to 40 [by] this morning," NES customer Craig Holcomb said.

Some were lucky enough to have a fireplace.

"We were able to stay warm, but we don’t know about the rest of the people," NES customer Hector Calderon said.

Craig and Erin Holcomb weren't as lucky.

"We are newly pregnant, so that was feeding into the anxiety, especially with our cats and dogs as well," Craig Holcomb said. "We’re exhausted, and still wearing the same thing we slept in last night," Erin explained.

The two were dressed in multiple layers, with hats, and gloves. Saturday morning, their power was restored.

Many NES customers are questioning why Nissan Stadium and downtown was lit up most of the night, as they suffered with no electricity.

"It's frustrating; I’d say that. It just shows where the priority infrastructure and the money end up going," Craig Holcomb said.

They also want to know why TVA and NES weren't prepared for the strain.

"All of Davidson County is at an infrastructure tipping point, not just with power lines, transformers, and substations. Also with roads, bridges, and everything else," Craig Holcomb said.

NES customers think the utility company could’ve communicated better with them about the restoration process.

"Have a better communication and be more transparent in the community and with the citizens in the community," Erin Holcomb said.

NES tells NewsChannel 5 they do the rolling blackouts by circuits, so if there’s something critical on that circuit, like a hospital, then it won’t be shut off.

Jack Baxter, with NES, said that could be why some people may have gone without power, and your neighbor didn’t: because they were on a linked critical circuit.

As for Nissan Stadium, Baxter said the rolling blackouts happened mainly during the day, and after that, they made an appeal for customers to do voluntary load reductions.

“We always tell our customers everybody needs to make whatever decision is right for them. I do know after some discussions with the Titans and NFL that last evening I know they were doing some maintenance activity — preparing for Saturday's football game in the evening and overnight hours. Everybody is doing what they think they need to do," Baxter said.

Baxter said for the game on Christmas Eve he spoke with an NFL representative. He was told the NFL didn’t want special treatment, and they had a backup generator in case they needed it Saturday.

Mayor John Copper tweeted he has been speaking with TVA and Congressional leaders about how they can prevent this from happening again. He wants to look at the state’s critical infrastructure.

You can check NES power outages here.