On the agenda: Bristol meeting — data center (Jun 17)

JUNE 2026 BOARD MINUTES
The regular meeting of the Bristol Tennessee Essential Services Board of Directors was held on
Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at noon at 2470 Volunteer Parkway, Bristol, Tennessee.
Call to Order
Chairperson Downs called the meeting to order at 12:00 p.m.
Board Members Present
Erin Downs, Jason Booher, Doug Harmon, Vince Turner, and John Vann.
Staff Present
CEO Clayton Dowell, Vice President of People Operations Tara Ellis, Vice President of
Engineering David Hacker, Vice President of Operations and Safety Steve Craddock, and
Director of Accounting and Finance Heather Jenkins.
Adoption of Meeting Agenda
Chairperson Downs asked if there were any amendments to the agenda. Mr. Vann made a motion
to add Discussion of Employee Agreement to the end of the agenda for the June board meeting.
Mr. Harmon seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Mr. Booher made a
motion to adopt the revised agenda. Mr. Turner seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
Public Comment Period
Chairperson Downs called for public comments. There were none.
Minutes
Chairperson Downs asked if there were any corrections to the minutes of the May board meeting,
which had been previously distributed. No corrections were noted. Mr. Booher made a motion to
approve the minutes as distributed. Mr. Turner seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Safety Report
Mr. Craddock reported 367,083.56 safe working hours from January 12, 2024, to May 31, 2026.
The June safety meeting for all employees took place on June 9, 2026. The topic was “Summer
Heat and Hazards.”
Reliability Report
Mr. Hacker presented the outage data for May 2026. He reported an average of 2.269 customer
outage minutes for the month. The year-to-date average, through May 31, 2026, was 17.328
customer outage minutes.

Financial Report
Electric Business Unit
Ms. Jenkins presented the financial reports for May. She reported Electric Sales were 56.7 MWh
for the month, slightly below May 2025. Year-to-date Revenue Less Power Cost was $15.99
million.
Advanced Broadband Services Business Unit
Ms. Jenkins reported total Fiber customers at the end of May to be 17,604 with 16,908 Internet
services, 4,605 cable services, and 4,390 telephone services. Ms. Jenkins reported that some
residential speeds were increased during the month of May. Customers with 4 Mbps, 6 Mbps,
and 30 Mbps Internet were upgraded to 60 Mbps at no additional cost. There was discussion
about marketing initiatives for Internet services.
May 2026
$(000)
YTD Actual
YTD Budget
Electric Sales
Other Electric Revenue
Other Income
Total Operating Expense
Non-Operating Expense
Electric Net Income (Loss)

$ 92,409.8
6,833.5
2,064.7
97,348.4
579.9
$ 3,379.7

$ 83,326.0
6,121.0
2,323.5
89,166.7
352.0
$ 2,251.8

Operating & Maintenance Expense

$ 20,935.4

$ 21,788.3

Broadband Net Income

$ 5,259.6

$

2,609.0

TVA Monthly Fuel Cost
Mr. Dowell reported that the July 2026 monthly fuel cost would increase to $0.02873 per kWh
for residential (RS) customers.

500 kWh
1000 kWh
1500 kWh
2000 kWh

May 1, 2026
Fuel Cost
$15.36
$30.72
$46.08
$61.44

June 1, 2026
Fuel Cost
$14.21
$28.41
$42.62
$56.82

July 1, 2026
Fuel Cost
$14.37
$28.73
$43.10
$57.46

Approval of Alianza Annual Support and Extended Warranty
Mr. Dowell presented a proposal for the annual support and extended hardware warranty with
Alianza, who in 2025 acquired Metaswitch, the manufacturer of our Class 5 telephone switch.
Mr. Turner moved to approve the proposal for a five-year term for $73,696 annually for the

software support and the extended hardware support for $62,140 for one year. Mr. Harmon
seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously.
Approval of Purchase of Meter Collars
Mr. Dowell presented a proposal to purchase 2,000 CPMD meter collars from Carina
Technology at $249.00 per unit, for a total cost of $498,000. Mr. Turner made a motion to
approve the purchase. Mr. Vann seconded the motion, and it was unanimously approved.
CEO Report
Mr. Dowell reported that the BTES Engage Mobile App will be updated by the end of June
2026. This is a result of NISC migrating to a new payment gateway. Customers will need to
update their mobile app to be able to make payments.
Mr. Dowell also reported a contract has been received by the Tennessee Emergency
Management Agency related to reimbursement for Tropical Storm Helene expenses. The
contract is currently under review.
Mr. Dowell provided information on two recent meetings with TVA. He also presented a
commercial that has been developed to promote Internet services and provided information on an
Internet outage that occurred June 9, 2026.
Board Comments
Chairperson Downs called for comments from the Board. Mr. Booher provided information on a
data center moratorium from a recent meeting. There was also discussion about BTES Power 7
filming community events.
Discussion of Employment Agreement
Staff were excused from the meeting, and the Board entered into a discussion of an employment
agreement.
Chairperson Downs adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully Submitted,

Doug Harmon, Secretary