Spotlight On: Teresa Broyles-Aplin, President & CEO, Nashville Electric Service
4 min read April 2025 — In an interview with Invest:, Teresa Broyles-Aplin, president and CEO of Nashville Electric Service, highlighted NES’s critical role in Nashville’s major infrastructure projects, including the East Bank development and “Choose How You Move” transit initiative. “Our customers don’t get to choose their provider, so we want to be as customer-centric as possible, delivering top-tier reliability and service,” she said.
Looking back at the past 12 months, what stands out most for you and your team?
Some of the highlights have been the partnerships we’ve built. The city had a lot going on this past year, particularly with the passing of the “Choose How You Move” transit referendum in November. NES is going to be heavily involved in that, especially as new corridors are developed for bus rapid transit. We’ll have to relocate a lot of infrastructure.
We’re also playing a major role in the East Bank development — the largest economic development project in Tennessee right now. The new Titans stadium is progressing fast, and NES is responsible for building out critical electric infrastructure for that project.
Another big initiative has been converting all our streetlights to LEDs, which we started last year. That project led us to create a new internal department: Grid Transformation and Project Management. It helps us better coordinate large-scale projects, manage budgets, and ensure we have the right materials in place. That has been a real step forward in streamlining operations as we grow with the city.
Additionally, we are focusing on system improvements that are tied to the new department — as we continue to focus on being the best utility and partner for/to our customers. Our customers don’t get to choose their provider, so we want to be as customer-centric as possible, delivering top-tier reliability and service. We’re exploring pilot projects with new digital technologies to evolve our customer service capabilities.
We’ve also launched our biggest IT investment to date, which is our Encompass project. It includes a new customer information system that will allow us to offer things like seasonal rates, EV rates, and more flexible service options. This system modernizes how we connect with customers. Many of them, especially younger residents, don’t want to call us. Encompass supports self-service options like starting, stopping, or transferring service entirely online. It’s been a major undertaking, but one that will truly enhance the customer experience.
How is the Solar Angel program serving lower- and middle-income residents?
Solar Angel is one of several ways we’re supporting advanced energy access for everyone. When we launched our Music City Solar project — Nashville’s first and only community solar array — we gave customers the ability to subscribe to panels and get bill credits for what those panels generate. Not everyone can install rooftop solar because some homes aren’t suitable, and it’s expensive. That’s why we created Solar Angel through the Community Foundation. The Solar Angel program subscribes to panels on the community solar array, and the credits are applied to the bills of families in need. I personally contributed right after the program launched, and I think it’s a fantastic way to combine sustainability with community support.
The solar angel program subscribes to panels on the community solar array, and the credits are applied to the bills of families in need.
How have broader economic trends impacted NES’s operations?
Inflation has hit us, particularly with the cost of materials. Transformers, for instance, have quadrupled in price. Supply chain issues still linger, especially with transformers, despite some improvement. We’ve been proactive, ordering early and even loaning to other utilities, but the federal government hasn’t followed through on promised support under the Defense Production Act. That said, we’ve managed to avoid raising rates and think we can hold off for another couple of years. Interest rates haven’t hurt us as much, largely because we use tax-exempt bonds for capital projects, which helps us secure lower rates and avoid passing costs to customers.
What excites you most about the city’s new “Choose How You Move” initiative and NES’s role in it?
It’s going to change how people navigate the city, especially those who struggle with access to transportation. Right now, the bus system is hard to navigate and time-consuming. The new smart traffic lights and bus rapid transit corridors should improve traffic flow and job access, especially downtown. It could also help younger residents who don’t want to own cars. NES already provides free bus passes and train reimbursements to our employees, and a better transit system will encourage more to take advantage of those options. I’m excited to keep supporting this. It’s good for the city and for our workforce.
How is NES working to build up its workforce and introduce more people to public power careers?
That’s been a huge focus. Nashville has over 80,000 public school students, but few end up at NES. We partner with schools through programs like the Academy of Energy & Power, but we realized we needed to do more. Our Chief People Officer helped us launch our internship apprentice program. It targets students who might not be able to attend a two-year program after high school due to family or financial responsibilities. We created a one-year paid internship where students work three days a week at NES and recently hired 10 full-time employees from our first cohort. This program is helping us build a talent pipeline directly from public schools into careers at NES, and it will continue to grow every year.
What is NES doing to position Nashville as a leader in clean energy?
We’re doing a lot more now than we were a few years ago. We recently signed a new power purchase agreement with Silicon Ranch for a 160-megawatt solar array. Not only does it provide clean energy, but it saves us money because we’ll pay less than what we pay TVA. That benefits all our customers, especially those focused on affordability. Additionally, we have created a dedicated sustainability role and launched new programs to buy back excess energy from commercial rooftop solar at better rates. We’re also planning to offer seasonal and time-of-use rates through our new customer system, which can promote energy efficiency. We’re budgeting for battery storage and exploring microgrid pilot projects. Long term, we want to build a virtual power plant concept, leveraging customer-side assets to support grid resilience.
What are your top priorities for NES over the next three to five years?
We’re focused on three things: prioritizing customer needs, developing and expanding our workforce, and laying the groundwork for long-term improvements.
We intend to implement the second phase of our IT upgrade, focused on work management and automation. We’re currently piloting technologies with more self-healing grid capabilities, allowing our system to respond automatically to outages. Culturally, we’re continuing to build an environment of civility and belonging. Employees should feel empowered to speak up and know that their voices are heard. That kind of workplace leads to better service and innovation. From an operations standpoint, we want to improve reliability and modernize our system while maintaining affordability. These priorities drive forward our vision of a newer, better and more advanced NES.
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