MEMPHIS, Tenn. — UPDATE (2/14/2022): MLGW said all original outages caused by the February 3 ice storm have been restored.
Hundreds of MLGW customers are fed up and furious, among the very unlucky few to still be powerless, 10 days after an ice storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers across the Bluff City.
The ongoing outage issues come as the Memphis City Council Tuesday will demand details of what went wrong and what improvements the utility will make before the next major storm.
"Most of the people I tell can't believe it," Gardner Mounce said.
But it's real and very true.
10 days following the area's winter storm, MLGW customer Mounce and his wife's Cooper-Young home is still without power.
"We haven't gotten an answer and now this is a fourth time we've reported it," Mounce added.
His home went in the dark when a fallen tree knocked out a line connected to a weather head.
Mounce said MLGW crews showed up three times and marked the problem resolved, even though the power outage problem remains.
"If it isn't MLGW hasn't told us we need to hire an electrician to solve it, I would be happy to do it but i dont want to call an electrician to tell me it's a MLGW problem," Mounce said.
With no lights or heat, the couple is making due at in-laws in Mississippi, while trying to make sure they're available the next time a crew arrives at their Memphis home.
"They also can't schedule appointments, they kind of just show up when they show up and there's no way for us when we are driving from an hour away if we are going to meet them at the right time or what," Mounce said.
He said the community with MLGW remains challenging and doesn't believe utility workers collaborate information well enough on differenct service calls at the same address.
"What I've learned as a customer is the crews don't take notes and so if they come to resolve an issue and don't resolve it, they don't take notes on the issue, no one is reporting back to a central, you know, hub," Mounce said.
"I want to know and the citizens need to know, what are we going to do moving forward?" Memphis City Council member Patrice Robinson said.
Tuesday, Robinson and other Memphis City Council members are expected to demand tough answers from MLGW's leadership on specific lessons learned and what's being corrected ahead of the next storm.
"I know for a fact we don't want them to get any worse, we want them to be better, but the more information we share, the more citizens will understand and be able to support the work moving forward," Robinson added.
A MLGW spokesperson declined comment ahead of Tuesday's Memphis City Council update.
The utility is in year three of a five-year infrastructure improvement plan
That work includes a modernized network to allow power switching from field faster, added tree trimming emphasis, upgraded substations and electric pole substations.
UPDATE: Gardner Mounce's wife said power at their home was restored in the 6 p.m. hour Monday evening, after our 5 and 6 p.m. stories aired.