Nashville-area residents are organizing a petition calling on Nashville Electric Service and Metro Council to provide bill credits following widespread power outages during January’s winter storm.
The petition is addressed to the NES Board of Directors and the Metropolitan Nashville City Council. Its stated goal is to secure an automatic, tiered bill credit for residential customers who experienced outages lasting more than 48 hours during the storm.
More than 200,000 NES customers lost power, and as of late January, nearly 100,000 households were still without electricity as crews worked through hundreds of broken poles and extensive ice damage. The petition acknowledges the efforts of more than 900 lineworkers and vegetation teams but says the financial and emotional toll on families has been overwhelming.
Some residents cites food loss due to extended outages, damage from burst pipes and water issues, health and safety risks for vulnerable populations, and lost wages from being unable to work as reasons for seeking relief.
The petition demands automatic tiered bill credits starting after 48 hours without service, with additional daily credits for each subsequent 24-hour period. It also calls for the credits to be applied automatically, rather than requiring individual claims, and requests a public report from NES on structural failures tied to the outages, along with a commitment to infrastructure improvements.
Those looking to be a part of the effort can go here for more information and the email template of the formal petition.
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