‘We can’t make it through a sunny day.’ Jefferson Parish asks for answers on power outages

The Jefferson Parish Council will hear from representatives from Entergy and the Louisiana Public Service Commission next week regarding a slew of major power outages that have afflicted the parish this year.

At-large Councilman Scott Walker announced on social media Tuesday that an Entergy representative will appear at the next council meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 7. Also in attendance will be Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis, who represents portions of the West Bank including Westwego.

Walker also reached out to Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta, who represents most of the parish, but is awaiting response. Skrmetta did not respond to requests for comment from The Times-Picayune on Wednesday.

“The council doesn’t regulate Entergy Louisiana, but we intend to get some answers,” Walker wrote in a post.

While New Orleans City Council has the power to regulate the electric utility within city limits, Jefferson Parish cannot impose regulations on Entergy Louisiana. That responsibility lies with the state’s Public Service Commission.

In the hours before Walker’s announcement Tuesday, Entergy’s outage map reported more than 14,000 Metairie residents without power for nearly an hour, which the company said was caused by an equipment issue at the substation.

It was the third day in a row of widespread outages in the parish, as the West Bank saw 2,300 outages the day before and the east bank experienced 6,300 outages Sunday.

Walker tallied 14 outages in the parish so far this year that each affected anywhere between 795 to over 30,000 residents. He attributed the outages to weather-related events or “random” causes.

Five of those outages took place in July.

“Right now we can’t make it through a sunny day,” Walker said in an interview, calling Tuesday’s outages the “tipping point” for him to call the hearing.

Entergy spokesman Brandon Scardigli said in a statement Wednesday that crews were working to identify the cause of recent outages, install new equipment and upgrade existing systems. He added that projects under the company’s new grid-hardening plan would start in the parish “imminently.”

Gripes with the electric utility company aren’t unique or new — Entergy Louisiana ranked last among large utilities in the South in a recent customer satisfaction survey conducted by J.D. Power, and Kenner’s City Council has hosted multiple discussions with Entergy representatives regarding problems.

The New Orleans City Council held its own hearing with Entergy New Orleans on Tuesday to discuss spikes in outages there, as the city has seen 1,600 outages so far this year.

“Entergy owes the people of Louisiana much more answers than what they’ve given about these challenges, especially with the amount of increasing they’ve been asking the commission to apply to customer bills,” said Lewis, the commission’s newest member who’s vowed to be aggressive with utilities.

Lewis said he’s been “very frustrated and upset” by the lack of information he’s gotten as to where, why and how long outages have occurred. Walker theorized the parish’s energy infrastructure is outdated and needs major upgrades to better withstand inclement weather.

“We keep replacing wooden poles with wooden poles, which seems like an exercise in futility,” Walker said.

Jefferson Parish customers pay about $13 per month in storm restoration fees to repair the grid from previous disasters.

Terry Almon, president of the Bonnabel Civic Association — one of the neighborhoods hit by Tuesday’s outages — said frustrated residents want better communication from Entergy on why the power goes out, especially when it’s not weather- or accident-related.

“They need to be upfront no matter what, whether it’s good news or bad news,” Almon said. “Any time a public entity is transparent, it serves them well.”