Entergy hires new CEO, seeks to make amends after ‘paid actors’ flap

10th December 2018   ·   0 Comments

Entergy New Orleans recently announced that it has tapped a new CEO to replace Charles Rice, who stepped down in the midst of a controversy that alleges that the company hired actors to persuade the New Orleans City Council to support a proposed power plant for eastern New Orleans. David Ellis, the president and CEO of New Jersey-based Global Power Technologies, will lead Entergy New Orleans the utility company announced Dec. 3.

In its news release, Entergy described Ellis as a 27-year veteran “providing global reliability and clean energy technology solutions.”

He will take over the reins at Entergy on Dec. 10.

New Orleans CityBusiness reported that former CEO Charles Rice was moved into a new role in August providing legal advice to Entergy Corporation. Rod West, group president of utility operations for Entergy Corp., has been serving as interim president and CEO since then.

“We conducted a comprehensive national search to find the right leader for Entergy New Orleans who can successfully implement our plan to improve reliability, create a smarter and greener energy grid for the city, and renew our role as a trusted partner and service provider for our customers and the communities we serve,” West said in a Dec. 3 statement. “David’s deep background in innovation, reliability and resource management, and delivering customer-focused products and services make him the right choice to lead Entergy New Orleans into the future.”

The utility has faced increased scrutiny from the New Orleans City Council over reliability and rate issues this year.

Ellis, a graduate of Penn State University, has held leadership positions at energy-focused companies, including Comverge International, Clean Power Markets, Inc. and Enerwise Global Technologies, Entergy’s news release said.

His experience includes the design and administration of renewable portfolio standards, global demand response market development and energy software and hardware technology leadership. He has an MBA from Eastern University.

At GPT, he led a global company that delivers enterprise and cloud-based software solutions, manufactures reliability and energy management products and provides energy consulting and advisory services to electric utilities and their customers, the news release said. Ellis also has led businesses in North America, Asia and Africa focused on driving technology-based energy solutions for utilities.

“I believe Entergy New Orleans can and should be the model for the electric utility of the future,” he said in a statement. “I found the tremendous potential and willingness to create a smarter energy future for New Orleans compelling, and I look forward to partnering with the City Council and the community to make that potential a reality.”

Entergy made a bad situation worse when it made a $20,000 contribution to WBOK and later canceled the check after the Black-owned radio station’s listeners and others continuously voiced their opposition to the proposed power plant over its airwaves.

Meanwhile, months after the New Orleans City Council imposed a historic $5 million fine on Entergy New Orleans for its apparent use of paid actors to support a new power plant, the utility company said it’s not paying the fine, but wishes to donate the money to the city instead.

WDSU News reported that the utility company had 30 days from the date the fine was imposed to respond to the City Council. A spokesperson for Entergy said the company sent the City Council a letter dated Nov. 30 in which the company maintained there was “no legal basis for a fine to be imposed.”

In October, the City Council announced it was fining Entergy New Orleans $5 million after an independent report found the utility company paid actors to show up at public meetings in support of the new power plant in New Orleans East.

The New Orleans City Council initiated the investigation to determine whether Entergy, or some other entity, paid actors to attend and/or speak at the public meetings.

Entergy officials said after the report was released that the company takes “strong exception to characterizations in the third-party report that Entergy ‘knew’ about payments made by (The Hawthorn Group) and (Crowds on Demand) to individuals who attended or spoke at the City Council meetings.”

A spokesperson for Entergy said recently that while the company believes there is no legal basis for the fine, the company also does not want a “long and protracted legal proceeding” because it would not “advance the shared goal of moving forward for the benefit of New Orleans.”

Entergy is, instead, offering to donate $5 million to the City of New Orleans “as a sign of good faith, to resolve the issue in a constructive manner and reinforce our commitment to the New Orleans community.”

The City Council will have to review the offer from Entergy.

Helena Moreno, City Council vice president, said the $5 million fine only relates to the investigation into the paid actors.

“The council has full regulatory authority over (Entergy New Orleans) as a monopoly utility and we intend to exercise our authority to the fullest extent appropriate to protect the people of New Orleans,” Moreno said in a statement.

This article originally published in the December 10, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.