Memphis Light, Gas and Water representatives will join other Tennessee Valley Authority customers at an in-person meeting later this month to review the federally owned power provider’s performance during December’s extreme winter weather. 

After Memphis faced rolling blackouts and spent days under a precautionary boil water advisory in late December, the responsible parties — the TVA and MLGW — both began examinations of their performance under extreme winter weather conditions.

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The TVA called for a review of its system in the aftermath of the storm, and more recently, it formed an independent panel of industry experts to provide feedback on proposed recommendations. 

The panel members are Joy Ditto, president of the American Public Power Association; former U.S. Senator Bob Corker; and Mike Howard, retired CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute. 

“These leaders bring tremendous experience and expertise not only in public power and energy systems, but also an understanding of the growing energy needs of the region,” said Don Moul, TVA’s COO. 

“As we work through our internal review and develop actions, we appreciate and value their independent review and insights.”

Spokesperson Buddy Eller said the TVA is still finalizing plans but expects to share its report with customers during an in-person meeting at the end of January. 

“We know there is work to do to fully restore confidence in TVA’s ability to reliably provide the energy 10 million people count on every day, and we are committed to proving that we can continue to meet that expectation for the future,” TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks said in a statement. 

Throughout the review, the TVA has sought input from its 153 local power company customers, elected officials and other stakeholders.

“We’ve got a lot of our customers engaged, providing feedback into the process, because in any case like this, you want to learn from it, and you’re focused on continuous improvement,” Eller said.

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In the review, the TVA plans to address outages at several of its gas and coal-fired plants ahead of record peak demand for electricity, which led to controlled blackouts across the region to avoid widespread outages.

Forecasting is also at the forefront of the TVA’s review, MLGW president and CEO Doug McGowen said during the utility’s Wednesday, Jan. 18, board meeting. That includes looking at the weather but it also includes “load forecasting, because there were some real issues to talk about there,” McGowen said. 

MLGW’s own ongoing internal review will address unexpected issues that surfaced during the storm. 

Mechanical issues at substations required MLGW to dispatch workers for repairs, which left customers without power for about twice as long as expected during the mandatory rolling blackouts. Over the course of several days, the city also lost more than a hundred million gallons of water through fire protection systems that burst at industrial properties, exacerbating the risk of contaminants in the water supply. 

McGowen said MLGW is also evaluating whether its $1.2 billion infrastructure investment plan is spending money in the right places. 

Millions of gallons of water flooded empty buildings during extreme winter weather

In the past few years, MLGW has invested about $50 million in its water infrastructure through its five-year investment plan. McGowen has repeatedly pointed to those investments as a safeguard against what he said could have been a much worse outcome during the winter storm.