Amid calls for the embattled Nashville Electric Service (NES) CEO to resign or be fired by the municipally owned company’s board, the top NES executive on Friday defended her leadership during Winter Storm Fern, but declared it was “not a fair question” when asked to grade her performance.
CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin appeared to signal to the Nashville Business Journal, in remarks published Friday, that she would fight to remain at her job despite U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) calling for her to resign, House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) pledging action from the General Assembly, and a bipartisan resolution in the Metro Council calling for the NES board to fire her.
“I work at the pleasure of the board,” said Broyles-Aplin. “My job right now is to move this organization forward through a recovery process that’s really important, and a preparation process that’s really important, because we’re headed into spring storm season.”
Asked why the CEO position was worth fighting to keep, she told the outlet, “I do this job because I love it. And outside of this storm, our reliability is has been top-notch.”
Later in the interview, the Business Journal asked Broyles-Aplin four times to grade the work by the company during the storm, as well as her leadership, but she declined to provide answers, and ultimately declared the questions an unfair line of inquiry.
Asked to grade the company’s preparation for the storm, the top executive told the outlet she was “not willing to give you a letter grade at this point,” because the company must first obtain “solid facts from an independent party.”
When the outlet then asked Broyles-Aplin to provide a letter grade the company’s response to the destruction caused by the storm, the CEO praised the work by linemen and vegetation management crews, but did not offer a grade.
Broyles-Aplin specifically said it was “not a fair question” when asked by the Business Journal to grade herself.
“It’s not. I have worked tirelessly,” she told the outlet. “I have rallied the troops to get the work done. I have tried to champion and plan for the customers.”
She reportedly stated, “Right now, I think I have a great vision as far as things that we as an organization need to improve going forward and where we need to focus. But I definitely think it’s not fair to ask me to give myself a grade.”
About half of the 470,000 NES customers were left in the dark after Winter Storm Fern, with thousands forced to wait more than a week for service to be restored. Five deaths have been attributed to the storm.
Polling released last week found two thirds of Davidson County residents blame NES for the outages, while 40 percent told pollsters that Broyles-Aplin should be fired.
The polling did not include the 20 percent of NES customers who are located outside Davidson County. Local governments in some neighboring communities are now seeking representation on the NES board or find a new electricity provider.
– – –
Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Teresa Broyles-Aplin” by NES.
