Entergy Louisiana customers will soon pay more on their monthly bills to fund nearly $2 billion in projects to bolster the electric grid, after the utility’s poor performance after hurricanes in 2020 and 2021 prompted more than a year of debate about how to best improve reliability in the face of intensifying storms.
The Louisiana Public Service Commission, which regulates Entergy Louisiana, voted 3-2 Friday to approve Entergy’s plan, over objections from consumer advocates and the commission’s two Democrats, who raised concerns that the plan was rushed through without proper transparency at a far-flung meeting in the town of Many.
Entergy Louisiana, which covers large swaths of the state but not New Orleans, has been trying to win approval for $5 billion in projects -- upgrading poles, bolstering overhead lines and the like -- since 2022.
The $1.9 billion plan approved Friday represents a scaled-down version of one made public a few days before the vote that Entergy argued would help it beef up the grid ahead of the 2025 hurricane season. It is already too late to make improvements for this year’s hurricane season.
The plan will be funded by ratepayers, who will see monthly bills ramp up from 2025 to 2029. The average Entergy Louisiana customer, using 1,200 kilowatt hours a month, will see bills rise by $8.45 a month by 2029, according to an Entergy spokesperson.
The commission is also fighting to force Entergy to pay Entergy Louisiana customers hundreds of millions of dollars for alleged mismanagement of the utility's Grand Gulf nuclear plant and accusations that the utility bilked ratepayers through improper tax and accounting methods. If the commission wins a settlement, it could use the money to offset some of the charges.
Entergy this week inked a $250 million settlement of the same case with Entergy New Orleans.
Entergy listed hundreds of projects across its service territory, including many in Baton Rouge. The plan would require Entergy to pay penalties if a hurricane knocks down a certain amount of the new structures, which are designed to withstand higher wind speeds.
“If we take this action now, we harden the system,” said Commissioner Eric Skrmetta, a Metairie Republican who supported the plan and is generally aligned with Entergy. “And we do so in a way that…if these poles fail, there’s an amount of money that’s paid back to ratepayers.”
Advocates with the Alliance for Affordable Energy and Together Louisiana, which advocate for consumers and low-income people, said they support efforts to harden the grid, which, like other infrastructure in Louisiana, is coming under increasing strain as climate change causes more severe weather. But they urged the commission to delay the vote, saying they had issues with Entergy’s plan and that they didn’t have nearly enough time to analyze it. The plan became public earlier in the week.
Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, said Entergy should have more seriously considered burying more power lines, citing underground lines in Florida that performed far better than stronger overhead lines during storms. Entergy generally based its plan on a massive grid-hardening program undertaken in Florida after the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons.
“We have deep concerns about the way in which this decision is being made in a remote location only days after it being announced,” Burke said.
Erin Hansen, an organizer with Together Louisiana, said the plan amounted to a “wish list” for Entergy that needed more scrutiny.
“We’re here and it looks like there’s this giant check that’s been written,” Hansen said. “The Public Service Commission is about to sign it. But it’s linked to our bank account. That doesn’t feel great.”
Entergy’s failures after Hurricane Ida left huge amounts of people without power, some for weeks. The resulting misery prompted the PSC, and the New Orleans City Council, which regulates Entergy New Orleans, to start the process of requiring the utilities to bolster the grid.
The plan authorized Friday does not affect Entergy New Orleans customers. The City Council is moving forward with its own strategy for bolstering the grid, a plan that is at odds with what Entergy New Orleans has requested.
