What This Story Is About
- Nashville Electric Service power bills are largely driven by seasonal weather, with one customer’s experience illustrating how costs can spike unexpectedly.
Why It Matters
- Many NES customers could see high bills this fall and winter without understanding that weather, not usage habits, is often the main cause.
- NES says it has no evidence of a widespread billing issue but is encouraging customers with concerns to contact them directly through the customer portal.
For Context
- The story follows a winter ice storm and an extremely hot summer, both of which NES says can drive up heating and cooling costs.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Weather has the biggest impact on an Nashville Electric Service customer’s power bill, according to the utility, as some customers continue to report unusually high charges following the winter ice storm and this summer’s heat.
Electric bills traditionally spike in June, July and August with warmer weather, NES said, and cooling costs account for approximately 40-50 percent of a customer’s total bill amount. Weather also has a big impact on bills in the fall and winter months.
Ice storm, extreme heat both factors
In the winter, after the ice storm, some NES customers saw extremely high power bills that were likely due to multiple factors, such as reheating a home after an outage or extreme cold temperatures forcing heating. With the hot summer, A/C units may have struggled to keep up, which can also lead to a more expensive bill.
One NES customer, Gary Smith, said he was never able to confirm why his bill jumped hundreds of dollars. He said his extraordinarily high electricity bills started after the winter months, and back in May he was charged $300 by NES for a 500-square-foot apartment at Novel Edgehill…