Day 2 restoration efforts gain momentum
February 3, 2022
Power has been restored to approximately 140,000 customers
(February 4, 2022 – 8:30 p.m.) Memphis Light, Gas and Water crews are making progress. Over the course of the storm, over 241,260 customers were impacted. Currently just over 101,000 customers are without power. “A lot of work is going on. We have more contract crews coming in this evening and tomorrow. There are still challenging days ahead, but we are working diligently,” MLGW President and CEO, J.T. Young said in the 5 p.m. news conference.
Restoration efforts are expected to speed up even more once crews restore the circuits. These efforts have been hampered by the number of downed trees.
MLGW prioritizes restoration efforts based on essential services (like hospitals and pumping stations) and where outages are concentrated. Hundreds of customers may be on one circuit, so the utility focuses efforts on large circuit outages, then on partial circuit outages, overhead lines and finally services to individual houses.
MLGW urges customers with localized issues, like damaged weatherheads, to have an electrician make repairs now to avoid further delay once power is restored to their neighborhood. A weatherhead is the transitional point from the customer’s service equipment to MLGW’s service equipment. For details about where MLGW’s equipment ends and the customer’s equipment begins, please check out the brochure Weathering Nature’s Fury.
Important MLGW contact information for customers:
• Electric Outage Reporting: 544-6500
• Emergencies: 528-4465 (for electrical lines down, gas leaks, broken water mains inside a building)
• Customer Care Center: 544-6549
• Online Outage Center: mlgw.com/home/outagecenter
- Download MLGW's iPhone App: mlgw.com/textalerts
The City of Memphis is operating a warming center at the Hickory Hill Community Center, 3910 Ridgeway Rd. Anyone who needs transportation to the Center should call the Office of Emergency Management at 297-1680.
For more on the restoration process, including how outages are prioritized, watch MLGW’s video, “How long will the power be out?”
MLGW is the largest three-service public power utility in the nation, serving more than 437,000 customers in Memphis and Shelby County.