Williamson County wins NES board seat

Tennessee lawmakers approved a bill that will give Williamson County a voting seat on the Nashville Electric Service board. (capitol.tn.gov) The measure passed the Senate 21-11 and the House 66-23 on April 20. It moves through the legislature as Senate Bill 2102 and House Bill 2592. (capitol.tn.gov) Nashville Electric Service is a city-owned utility that distributes power to nearly 460,000 customers across Davidson County and parts of six surrounding counties. Its board is now appointed through Nashville government, even though the utility serves customers outside Davidson. (nespower.com) The amended bill says a municipal electric utility must add one voting member for each outside county where it has at least 3,500 customers, if that county chooses to appoint one. New members would begin their terms on Jan. 1, 2027. (capitol.tn.gov) That threshold reaches Nashville Electric Service customers in Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties, according to lawmakers and the bill’s fiscal analysis. The legislation is written narrowly enough that reporters and legislators said it effectively targets Nashville Electric Service. (wpln.org) The push followed Winter Storm Fern, which caused mass outages across Middle Tennessee and left many Brentwood residents in Williamson County without power for weeks. On March 9, the Brentwood City Commission formally asked for Williamson County representation on the utility board. (brentwoodtn.gov) Sen. Jack Johnson, a Franklin Republican and the Senate majority leader, said Williamson County customers were paying rates set by a board appointed by a Nashville official. Sen. Brent Taylor, a Memphis Republican sponsoring the bill, said customers who pay electric bills should have a say in utility governance. (wpln.org) Nashville Democrats argued the bill would not fix storm response and called it an attempt to shift control away from the city. Sen. Jeff Yarbro said the measure was “pure targeting,” and Sen. Heidi Campbell said board geography does not determine service quality. (wpln.org) The bill also bars an electric utility that is governed by a utility board on May 1, 2026, from switching to direct governance by the municipality after that date. The fiscal memorandum says the added board seats would create only a permissive local cost, not a state budget hit. (capitol.tn.gov) If the bill becomes law, Williamson County will gain the board vote its local officials sought after the storm, but the larger fight over who controls Nashville’s public utility will keep moving into 2027. (nashvillepost.com)