MLGW crews working to assess damage, restore power
January 31, 2023
(January 31, 2023 – 1 p.m.) (CORRECTED) Freezing rain and sleet moved through Memphis and Shelby County yesterday evening, knocking out power to more than 5,000 Memphis Light, Gas and Water customers.
MLGW is currently working to restore several thousand outages as a result of last night’s ice storm. Outages are dynamic and customers may experience outages throughout the day; falling tree limbs can cause additional outages.
How is MLGW working to improve our storm response and reliability?
Since last year’s ice storm, our crews and contracted partners have been working hard to improve the resilience and reliability of our system by trimming 426 miles of tree line, replacing 692 wooden poles, replacing 22 substation circuit breakers, replacing more than 13.5 miles of underground cable and installing 124 Distribution Automation devices. Automation devices are switches that operate automatically to reduce the number of customers interrupted when damage occurs to our lines.
We anticipate another weather system moving through later today. MLGW will continue working as quickly and safely as possible until service is restored to all customers impacted.
To receive current updates on storms and outages, please sign up for text alerts at mlgw.com/alerts.
Customers can report outages and get updates on restoration efforts by using MLGW My Account.
Customers can also call 544-6500 to report outages and get status updates.
Important MLGW contact information for customers:
• Outage Reporting: 544-6500
• Emergency: 528-4465 (This number should be treated like 911. Gas leaks, electrical lines down.)
• Customer Care Center: 544-6549
• Online Outage Center: mlgw.com/home/outagecenter
MLGW reminds customers to consider any downed wire to be dangerous and to not touch.
MLGW is the largest three-service public power utility in the nation, serving more than 440,000 customers in Memphis and Shelby County.