Last evening, our community suffered extensive damage from 75 mph winds that were caused by quickly moving super cell thunderstorms.  These storms wreaked havoc across our area, causing more than 700,000 customers to lose power - 122,000 in the MLGW service area.   The damage and outages rank this storm as the sixth worse in MLGW history.  

As the storms were heading to us, our team mobilized assistance from outside contractors to help us in what we predicted would be a very large restoration effort.  That help arrived today, and together with MLGW crews, there are about 70 crews working hard to make repairs.  In many cases, the damage was caused by falling trees, meaning substantial tree cutting work is required before repairs can be made.  We have nearly 50 tree crews actively in the field doing that work.

Our priority is to ensure that we do not precipitate another emergency, and so we focus on ensuring water and sewer systems continue to function and that hospitals can stay open.  In a small area of northern Shelby County, our water pumping capacity was impacted by electrical outages, causing low pressures, and reaching a point where a precautionary boil water advisory was required for just that small part of the service area.

I do not have a firm estimate on full restoration given the magnitude of the damage.  I ask that everyone presently without power plan to be out for several days’ time, and that our customers who do have power help their friends and neighbors where and when you can.  I am aware that temperatures will dramatically increase after Wednesday, and there is urgency to get as much power restored as quickly as we can.  I ask for similar urgency for all of us to check on the welfare of neighbors and family.

This storm and the others since the Christmas deep freeze and rolling blackouts that came with it are unprecedented in frequency and damage.   While we cannot control weather, you deserve a more resilient and reliable electric system in the face of that weather, and these storms underscore the absolute imperative and urgency to get the work done.  I am glad to report that help is coming, and we are underway with a comprehensive approach to improving our system.   Simply, we will be investing heavily in vegetation management (tree trimming) to ensure we get to and stay on a three -year cycle, something we haven’t done for several years.   We will be replacing significant quantities of aged infrastructure and ensuring our systems are upgraded to modern construction standard. And we will be dramatically improving resilience and reliability by installing a “smart grid” that is able to prevent many outages, and when they do occur, can be “self-healing” and can automatically redirect power around the system, restoring many customers automatically, and pinpointing areas of damage for our crews – saving substantial time and dramatically improving restoration times.  These investments will improve performance by more than 50% on average across the system, with bigger impacts in the areas with the worst reliability today.

You have my commitment to seek every resource necessary to get your power restored as quickly as we possibly can.
Sincerely,

Doug McGowen 

 

Memphis Light, Gas and Water is the largest three-service public power utility in the nation, serving the residents of Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee since 1939. MLGW consistently provides customers with rates that are amongst the lowest in the nation and stewards a water supply from artesian wells that is minimally treated. Actively engaged in promoting the prosperity of Memphis and Shelby County, MLGW supports the seven local chambers in its service area and makes doing business with local, minority- and women-owned business a priority. Deeply rooted in the community, its employees generously donate time and money in support of bettering the Greater Memphis area.