Image: An ice-coated tree lies on top of a power line in a Nashville neighborhood on Jan. 29, 2026, following a winter storm that knocked out power for more than 300,000 customers in Tennessee. Image Credit: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout
***Note from The Tennessee Conservative – this article posted here for informational purposes only.
By: Adam Friedman [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
Nashville Electric Service, NES, has hired state and local lobbyists as the utility company continues to deal with the fallout of an ice storm that left thousands without power for almost two weeks and put its chief executive on the hot seat.
The lobbyist contracts, first reported by the Nashville Business Journal, have begun appearing in publicly required filings.
Mark Cate, the head of Stone Rivers Group and former chief of staff to former Gov. Bill Haslam, filed with the state that he started working with NES on Feb. 9. The NBJ has also reported that Gov. Bill Lee’s former chief of staff Blake Harris’ firm BHA strategy was hired as another lobbyist, but Harris has yet to file a notice with the Tennessee Ethics Commission.
At the local level, NES has hired Joe Hall and Matthew Kuhn of Hall Strategies.
Winter Storm Fern first hit Middle Tennessee on Jan. 24 and knocked out power to over 225,000 households, affecting Davidson County and six counties surrounding the city that rely on NES for power. For some residents, power wasn’t restored until Feb. 6.
The delay in restoring power drew backlash across the political spectrum. Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell and Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, in separate instances, criticized the utility for a lack of communication.
At the center of the criticism was NES CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin, who has so far remained steadfast that she is the best person to lead the utility company.
On Thursday, the Nashville Scene reported that Broyles-Aplin was in communication with Blackburn’s office in the early days of the storm to specifically make sure power was restored to Blackurn’s Brentwood home. The area had already been listed as a priority by NES, but hadn’t been assigned to a crew until Broyles-Aplin intervened, the Scene reported through emails it obtained.
All of this comes as state lawmakers are weighing whether to intervene to alter the board’s structure. Some lawmakers want Nashville’s surrounding counties to be given seats on the utility board, which is currently appointed by Nashville’s Mayor with approval from the Metro Nashville Council.
Several Metro Council members have called on Broyles-Aplin to resign. O’Connell has convened a special commission to investigate what went wrong during the storm, tapping former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen to chair the board.
