MEMPHIS, Tenn — Some people are saying power outages seem to happen more than normal in their city.
The president and CEO of Memphis, Light, Gas and Water, Jerry Collins, told council members during a committee meeting Tuesday his department is looking into this.
MLGW presented a 22-page document to council members. It was part of its 20-year plan when it comes to reducing the number of power outages in the area.
When severe weather comes, some said their power seems to always go out, and many said the outages occur even when there’s not bad weather.
“There’s always room for improvement, but we’ve improved a lot if you look back to 20 to 30 years,” Collins said.
Collins said trees are to blame for many of the outages.
“Memphis is a city of trees, and when trees come in contact with our power lines, that’s not a good thing, and that causes most of our outages,” he said.
Collins said reducing the number of power outages means spending more money on tree trimming services. He said new technology, such as smart meters, can also help.
Some council members questioned adding smart meters.
“Since our infrastructure is aging, then why are we so focused on adding smart meters to an aging infrastructure instead of improving our infrastructure with that $240 million?” council member Berlin Boyd said.
“If we have smart technology in place, that can isolate circuits that can get us back quicker,” Collins said. “That’s a relatively inexpensive way to get a lot of bang for the buck that you couldn’t do otherwise.”
