Two members of the Metro Nashville Council on Wednesday submitted a resolution calling for the Nashville Electric Service (NES) board to fire the company’s top executive, Teresa Broyles-Aplin, as she faces criticism for the municipally owned utility’s response to Winter Storm Fern.
Councilmembers Emily Benedict (District 7) (pictured above, left) and Courtney Johnston (District 26) (pictured above, right) in their resolution called for the NES board “to terminate” Broyles-Aplin’s employment immediately, stating that she failed to adequately prepare for the storm or communicate during the outage.
The resolution states, “the storm exposed systemic weaknesses and failure in NES’s emergency planning, preparation, infrastructure management, public-facing communication, and risk management, all of which are squarely the responsibility of executive leadership,” under whose watch the company, “failed to demonstrate sufficient preparation for this winter storm despite known regional weather risks, prior ice storm experience, specifically in 1994, and explicit forecasting of this event days in advance.”
During the recovery process, the resolution accuses NES of repeatedly giving its customers, “inaccurate, inconsistent information,” and failing “to provide clear guidance on realistic restoration timelines,” causing “confusion, diminished public trust, and an inability for residents and businesses to make informed safety and logistical decisions.”
The resolution also refers to the internal risk audit NES produced last November, which showed a lack of vegetation management posted a serious risk to reliability. It then noted NES decreased spending on tree trimming from its 2023, as the company’s 2024 annual report shows a $7 million cut in spending.
The Tennessee Star contacted NES to ask whether the company disputes the resolution’s claim that its spending on vegetation management decreased after 2023, as the company and Broyles-Aplin have claimed that the budget actually increased during this period, but did not receive an immediate response.
Metro councilmembers will not vote on the resolution until next Tuesday, but the introduction by Benedict and Johnson may indicate bipartisan support. Johnston challenged U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) in the Republican Party primary in 2024, while Benedict joined activists who trail U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in December.
Benedict and Johnston’s resolution comes after U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) called for Broyles-Aplin to resign in a post to social media on Tuesday. The post came days after Blackburn delivered a Senate floor speech calling for firings and replacement after thousands of NES customers were left without power for more than a week.
In addition to the calls for firings and resignations, Ogles has called for the Tennessee General Assembly to take control of NES and reshape its governance to allow his constituents outside Nashville to have a say in the company’s oversight. The Mayor of Nashville currently selects the company’s board members, who the Metro Council can remove with a supermajority vote, despite the company serving customers outside the city.
Ogles’ district includes parts of Nashville along with surrounding suburban and rural communities in Middle Tennessee.
State House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said earlier this month that lawmakers were reviewing their options, “with the stance that NES cannot stay the same.”
The resolution was also filed shortly after NES hired a new lobbyist to communicate with or influence state government officials on the company’s behalf, which Johnston appeared to question in a post to social media.
After NES reported the damage from Winter Storm Fern is the most expensive in the company’s history, Johnston wrote, “And becoming more expensive with all the lobbying contracts to try to manage elected official relationships and ‘public relations,'” before calling for NES leadership to “take ownership of the failure.”
Winter Storm Fern is being investigated as the cause of at least five deaths in Nashville.
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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].
Photo “Emily Benedict” by Emily Benedict and “Courtney Johnston” is by Courtney Johnston.
