MEMPHIS, Tenn — Tuesday, MLGW leadership updated the Memphis City Council - and customers - on the ongoing improvements in the Outage Improvement Advisory Team.
The utility formed the group following the February ice storm, the fourth worst in MLGW history. 234,000 customers lost power at some point, some for more than a week.
While customers ABC24 caught up with were appreciative of the efforts, they argued certain priorities aren't being addressed soon enough.
"In February we were out of power for seven days, it was bad," MLGW customer Jill Troutman said. "We feel like there is another shoe that is going to drop."
That's why, eight months later, Troutman remains locked in and engaged with MLGW's promised improvements. She said MLGW crews inspected her East Memphis property six different times in the past two years, with the same response.
"What we've been told every time that they've visited is that, 'yes, they need a tree crew over here, there is not one available,'" Troutman added.
MLGW wants to change that for Troutman and other customers, through the Outage Improvement Advisory Team, formed earlier this year.
That includes replacing older substations, modernizing the aging grid system, replacing older underground lines and doing more tree trimming around lines.
"The tree trimming challenges are big, I would just acknowledge that, we have some challenges in making sure that labor is consistently available and that we can move forward with the process," MLGW President J.T. Young said. "We've seen a 20% improvement in outage minutes since 2019, we want to see a 50% improvement by the end of this particular (five-year) plan."
As for Troutman, she's more in a wait and see MLGW mode.
"We are very hopeful and it's great that they put the advisory committee in place, it's great they have a plan, I feel like we are just waiting for the next big storm," Troutman said.
Additional MLGW public meetings are planned later this month to update these ongoing improvements and gather more feedback.