Antioch homeowners left in dark after rolling blackouts

ANTIOCH, Tenn. (WSMV) - Some homeowners in Antioch say they’ve been left in the dark after the rolling blackout lasts for more than 10 hours each day.

WSMV spotted crews on their street Christmas Eve evening working to restore the power in the area.

Many say they’re frustrated with the power outages especially as temperatures continue to drop below freezing.

“It’s been a cold 48 hours, it’s Christmas eve. I never thought my Christmas Eve would have been spent like this but it’s really unfortunate,” said Syretta Blakely.

Blakely is one of the many residents in the Timmon Properties community on Pippin Drive in Antioch who was left in the dark for hours on and off for two days straight.

“I pretty much have been without power. There have been periods of it coming on, but we kept getting the message saying that there would be these ten to fifteen minutes blocks and it never happened,” said Blakely.

Neighbor Tracy Hammond said she’s spent most of her day inside her car and running errands.

“I’m very disappointed, saddened that my Christmas Eve is spent like this. I have been without power for like 15 hours now,” said Hammond.

Nashville Electric Service says as record-setting temperatures put intense pressure on the power system requiring them to do rolling blackouts for hours at a time to stabilize the power grid.

“We were successful in helping TVA stabilize the bolt electric system again today, they did about a 2,000-megawatt reduction in load. To scale that for you that’s the size of two reactive nuclear power plants so they were able to get that 2,000-megawatt reduction this morning to help stabilize the system,” Jack Baxter, VP of Operations at NES.

Blakley, who was frustrated with power outages and the lack of communication, says the rolling blackout seems to last longer in her neighborhood in comparison to other communities.

“Antioch has the highest population of black and brown people, it has the highest international population and we have repeatedly but been last and it needs to stop,” said Blakely.

Neighbors tell me that the power in some of the areas of the community has been restored.

Copyright 2022 WSMV. All rights reserved.