It’s lights out, again
23rd September 2024 · 0 Comments
Entergy officials’ endless loop of apologies after every hurricane or basic storm feels like Groundhog Day. Sometime after Hurricane Francine, television stations aired an apology from Entergy about customers’ discomfort when the lights went out.
Electricity outages have become so frequent that customers were warned before Hurricane Francine – a category 2 storm – made landfall in Louisiana to prepare for extended power outages. Statewide, 209,288 Entergy customers lost power during this storm.
In August 2024, NOLA.com reported seven power outages, a month before Hurricane Francine appeared and without significant storms. Now, a new term to define select electricity outages has emerged: “a fair weather outage.”
Whether it’s a bird, a Mylar balloon, or winds gusting at 15 miles or 100 miles, Entergy apologizes for the inconvenience of being thrust into the dark due to these mundane occurrences. The fact that one million customers lost power during Hurricane Ida and 900,000 lost power during Hurricane Katrina is cold comfort when high winds and hard rain can also knock out power lines.
Customers are not just inconvenienced, they are deeply frustrated. They are tired of being left in the dark, in sweltering heat or cold, with food spoiling in refrigerators, no Wi-Fi and no juice for cell phones, except for cars with USB ports. They are also overly dependent on ice chests and melting ice to keep perishable items edible and portable generators that aren’t cheap.
How does a conglomerate that raked in $2.5 billion in 2023 refuse to pay for damages to customers’ electric-run equipment? If your laptop computer gets blown up, too bad. If your generator causes toxic emissions and endangers your health, too bad. If you don’t have money to fix your generator or buy food or flashlights, it’s too bad. Entergy doesn’t give a whiff.
Since Katrina, poles have been held up with toothpicks in between outages. That’s not OK. Wooden poles for electricity transmission, some nearly 100 years old, are passé.
How about replacing the wooden poles with steel or concrete poles? How about gifting portable generators to senior citizens and homes with infants? Better yet, how about burying transmission lines underground? Oh, wait. The response to that suggestion is that it is too expensive.
Really? Can Entergy replace hundreds of wooden poles after hurricanes, storms and high winds but not bring its transmission modality into the 21st century?
No, ma’am and no, sir. That’s too much like doing the right thing. If Entergy did that, the conglomerate would pass the cost on to its consumers. So what? That’s already happening. After each hurricane, rates go up to pay for the damage to their old poles and outdated grid.
“Entergy customers to pay $3.2 billion for storm repairs over 15 years; Utility CEO collects $4 million pay increase,” La. Illuminator reported in 2022. This is a clear case of customers paying for the repairs while the company leader gets paid royally. It’s unfair and it’s time for change.
During a 2022 Public Service Commission hearing, Louisiana utility regulators voted to allow Entergy to bill its customers $3.2 billion for repairs after five storms in 2020 and 2021. Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, D-Shreveport, was the lone vote against the measure.
Kudos to Campbell, who criticized Leo P. Denault, Entergy’s chairman and chief executive officer, in 2022 over what can only be seen as corporate greed.
“Mr. Denault, how will you explain to the people of north Louisiana that your salary went from $10 million to $14 million during these troubling times? How do you explain that you gave out $1.5 billion worth of dividends during these troubling times?” he asked.
Reporter Wesley Muller quoted the Economic Research Institute, saying that Denault earned over $16 million in total compensation in 2020, up from about $9 million in 2018. He retired from Entergy in 2023, but the greedonomics at the utility monopoly continues.
Two weeks ago, NOLA.com reported that Entergy Louisiana customers will see their bills rise slightly under new rates approved by the PSC. The monopoly wants customers to pay another fee for projects to upgrade the grid after winning approval to spend $2 billion to improve the grid.
Again, the customer pays for repairs, upgrades, shareholder dividends and officials who will earn more in one year than the average customer would have to work nearly a lifetime to earn.
It’s excellent that Entergy “powers life,” but it also endangers lives when electricity outages threaten them. Prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and heat strokes. This is not just an inconvenience, it’s a serious threat to our well-being.
According to a press release, “Entergy is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in New Orleans that powers life for 3 million customers through its operating companies across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. With roots in the Gulf South region for more than a century, Entergy is a recognized leader in corporate citizenship, delivering more than $100 million in economic benefits to local communities through philanthropy and advocacy efforts annually over the last several years. Our approximately 12,000 employees are dedicated to powering life today and for future generations.”
That flowery description is all good. But Entergy’s reluctance to spend money to bring the company into the 21st century isn’t, and neither is saddling its customers with the cost of doing business.
Let’s get this straight. In New Orleans, particularly, we pay exorbitant prices for electricity and gas every month and suffer excessive outages. Then, Entergy wants us to pay to repair their shoddy system. Shut the front door!
New Orleanians pay more for electricity and gas than customers in other parishes. We want reasonable rates, not bills that cost more than our monthly car note.
The New Orleans City Council, as the regulatory body for Entergy New Orleans, has the power to stop Entergy from overcharging its customers and to ensure the company provides reliable service. If they truly care about their constituents, they will take action. We’ll see. Elections are coming up.
This article originally published in the September 23, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
