Middle Tennessee Electric briefs commissioners on power needs and county broadband rollout

Representatives from Middle Tennessee Electric (MTE) and United Communications briefed the committee about electric-generation needs for growth and the status of a cooperative-led fiber broadband rollout.

Chuck Barber, MTE government relations administrator, said MTE serves roughly 350,000 meters and is the largest member-owned cooperative in the state. He described past transformer shortages and stressed the need to plan for larger commercial loads, such as Nissan (about 54 megawatts) and new facilities with roughly 20 megawatts of demand. Barber said TVA is pursuing additional generation, including small modular reactors at Clinch River, and that nuclear is expected to remain a key baseload source.

Barber and William Bradford, CEO of United Communications (a broadband venture in which MTE is a majority owner), described Project Unite and the cooperative's retail broadband rollout. Bradford said MTE/United has brought fiber service to about 31,000 Rutherford County homes and businesses and that roughly 7,000 more locations in the county are under construction; countywide, the partner expects to serve roughly 120,000 locations across its footprint by year-end. Bradford said United expects to expand into Murfreesboro city limits as rural projects complete and highlighted a planned "smart grid" integration to link fiber communications to grid equipment for improved reliability.

Commissioners asked about power-source mix (Barber: "a mix" with nuclear as baseload and gas used during peak demand), the Clinch River small modular reactor project, rate structures and whether United has legal constraints on serving customers already covered by incumbent providers. Bradford said state law makes some areas more complex due to prior federal/state funding of incumbent providers; he said the company is actively pursuing remaining unserved locations and has provisional awards in some zones in Rutherford County.

Barber and Bradford also discussed pole replacements, coordination among utilities during road projects, and incentives to manage demand. The presentation included questions about potential future growth (data centers and AI-related loads) and the county's planning efforts. MTE asked to be part of county infrastructure conversations and said it is tracking the county's growth projections to align electric supply and reliability planning.