The Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division hosted the first of several Outage Improvement Advisory Team Meetings (OIAT) on March 17 at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library. Over the next few weeks, the OIAT will examine power outages and ways to improve the MLGW power restoration process. The 51-member team consists of community stakeholders from MLGW, the City of Memphis, Shelby County government, neighborhood associations, non-profits, and surrounding municipalities representing MLGW’s 439,000 customers.

Session 1: “Overview and Understanding of the Electric Distribution System,” was livestreamed on the MLGW YouTube and Facebook pages and is available to watch at: youtube.com/watch?v=BGvwr-pmYTo.

MLGW President and CEO J.T. Young thanked customers for tuning into the first of several OIAT meetings this afternoon from the streaming platforms.

“We will receive input from stakeholders on how we can make improvements to our system and make sure we are sensitive to the needs of our community regarding power restoration. We want to minimize the frequency and duration of outages and are excited to come together and receive stakeholder and customer input,” he said.

MLGW customers are invited to engage in the process through questions/feedback at memphistn.gov/mlgw/ regarding tree trimming, underground lines, response time, overall infrastructure, suggestions for improvement, and more. The site also has a full list of the OIAT members.

The next meeting will be livestreamed Thursday, March 31 on the MLGW YouTube page.

MLGW is the largest three-service public power utility in the nation, serving more than 437,000 customers in Memphis and Shelby County.