One part of Nashville loses power more than any other - WSMV 4

One part of Nashville loses power more than any other

Data also shows that the area falls in the top three for the longest duration of outages.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - There are hundreds of power outages in Nashville each year, but WSMV4 Investigates uncovered one part of town with significantly more than any other.

Jeff Messenger says working at his Goodlettsville home isn’t always easy because of frequent outages.

“All of the lights go black, and all of the screens go out,” he said.

Messenger estimates that outages happen nearly every week.

“I lived in Florida for a while where there are hurricanes, and we had less power outages than we have here,” he said.

An analysis by WSMV4 Investigates revealed Messenger isn’t exaggerating.

According to Nashville Electric Service (NES) data over the last three years, their Goodlettsville substation loses power more than eight times as often as any other substation. Not only that, the data also shows that the area falls in the top three for the longest duration of outages.

We asked NES if the extended outages are acceptable.

“Anybody that is falling down on a system average that is more than two hours becomes our priority,” Brent Baker with NES said.

The electric company pinned the issue on a high number of trees in the area, which they say they plan to tackle in next year’s budget.

“Trim some of those trees and get that more reliable,” Baker said.

High winds were also listed as a potential stressor, and NES said they plan to combat that with more sturdy poles.

“We are trying to build a system that is more hardened for severe weather,” Baker said.

The proposed potential fixes are something Messenger hopes to see, allowing him to keep working with the lights on as often as possible.

“It would be less disruptive to our lives, that is for sure,” Messenger said.

NES said on average, their customers have two outages a year that last around two hours.

See the chart below for which substations experienced the most frequent/longest outages over the last three years:

| MOST FREQUENT OUTAGES | LONGEST DURATION OF OUTAGES |
| 1. GOODLETTSVILLE – 155 OUTAGES | 1. EAST – 14 HOURS |
| 2. WHITES CREEK – 18 OUTAGES | 2. WHITEBRIDGE ROAD – 9 HOURS |
| 3. CANE RIDGE (TIED) – 11 OUTAGES | 3. GOODLETTSVILLE – 6 HOURS |
| 3. RADNOR (TIED) – 11 OUTAGES | 4. MADISON – 4 HOURS |
| 5. EAST – 10 OUTAGES | 5. HERMITAGE – 3 HOURS |

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