The meeting covered four big topics: The Lincoln Beach restoration project, hurricane preparedness, Entergy’s ongoing outage problems, and SWBNO’s pump and flooding issues.
Chief Sustainability Officer Meagan Williams gave an update on the Lincoln Beach restoration project. Williams started by recognizing “that this is more than just an infrastructure project, it’s a historic and cultural landmark.” Recently, in June, the City finished its technical review process and this week will be conducting a cost modeling workshop to make sure the budget, scope, and timeline are aligned.
According to Williams they are on track to start construction before the end of this year and expect to have the project completed by Fall/Winter of 2027. They are planning to host a Community Update Meeting in late August.
Representatives from Entergy New Orleans (ENO) presented on its hurricane preparedness strategies and the “lessons learned” during Tropical Storm Arthur. According to ENO Tropical Storm Aruther damaged 12 poles, 8 transformers, and 21 cross arms, all since replaced with sturdier equipment in line with the new resiliency standards.
This grid hardening work is part of what Entergy is calling its “Resilience Plan.” Phase 1 of that plan was approved by the Council in 2024 and included $100 million for grid hardening investments (docket UD-21-03).
At the end of 2025, ENO submitted an application requesting approval from the Council to begin Phase 2 of its “Resilience Plan,” asking for $400 million from customers to strengthen the city’s electric grid. ENO’s application to begin Phase 2 is still currently under review by the Council.
So far ENO has completed 14 of the 32 planned resiliency projects approved in Phase 1, with 7 more under construction, and says all 32 will be completed by the year’s end.
Phase 1 includes 65 projects, strengthening more than 3,000 structures and upgrading 63 miles of electric lines. These projects all had broad stakeholder consensus and support. Importantly, Phase 1 was approved without immediate bill impacts because the Council used settlement funds (from the Grand Gulf/SERI settlement) and a DOE grant.
Climate change is making storms more intense and more costly, and the status quo is failing too many residents. Investing in stronger poles, hardened lines, and smarter system design is necessary to reduce outages and lower long-term storm costs.
But at a time when bills are already high, it is critical that every dollar invested delivers real, measurable benefits for the people of New Orleans.
AAE has consistently supported meaningful, well-designed grid hardening that delivers benefits to the community, especially to those most vulnerable. But what projects we prioritize, how we pay for grid hardening, and who bears the cost, matters just as much as whether these investments happen at all.
As we’ve said before, the fact of the matter is that New Orleanians have been asked to pay higher utility bills for poorer services for many years, to the point where electricity is unaffordable for many households. New Orleans residents must not be made to bear the full cost of resilience and storm hardening measures that Entergy should have undertaken years ago.
Lighting strikes causing outages: Councilmember Hughes noted several of the new poles replaced as part of the resiliency projects have already been struck by lighting and caused outages. Hughes questioned Entergy about how they plan to address this issue.
Storm profits: Councilmember Willard asked Entergy point-blank what rate of return (profit) it earns on storm recovery costs. Entergy didn’t have the number ready but promised to follow up.
Persistent outages in New Orleans East, the Venetian Isles, and North Kenilworth: Councilmember Hughes also pressed Entergy for answers about the continued outages residents and businesses in New Orleans East, the Venetian Isles, and North Kenilworth have experienced. Councilmember Hughes pointed out that “we have seen a pattern of outages in North Kenilworth,” residents have seen outages on a weekly basis, including three in one day. Entergy’s CEO, Diana Rodriguez, apologized directly to North Kenilworth residents for the repeated outages. Hughes pressed Entergy about why they didn’t act sooner despite having the outage data. Entergy’s answer was essentially that its process is built around prioritizing responding to equipment failures that affect a lot of customers at once, not recurring problems that affect a smaller number of customers — something it says it will now change.
July 4 French Quarter outage: Entergy also provided an update on recent outages on July 4 in the French Quarter. The equipment involved in the outage was so badly damaged by fire that Entergy says it cannot determine what caused it. Entergy did say that storm runoff is a challenge in this area and they rely on pumps to ensure the underground infrastructure stays dry. Entergy said they are working on installing new monitoring technology that will provide real time information about pump and transformer status, which they currently must check manually. However, after questions from Councilmember Willard, it became clear that some of the recently installed equipment in the French Quarter does not have this new monitoring technology yet.
After the discussion, the Council approved a resolution that sets a schedule for the Council to review the reliability standards it established in 2023 (docket UD-17-04).
Since the standards were adopted, Entergy has technically been meeting them, yet as we heard about in yesterday’s meeting, residents are still dealing with frequent outages on both storm days and clear days. The Alliance has repeatedly urged the Council to strengthen the reliability standards so it has real teeth to hold Entergy accountable when service falls short. We are glad to see the Council initiate this review process.
The resolution also calls for additional information on outages, especially those attributed to equipment failure and vegetation issues, and directs the Council’s Advisors to explore bill credits for customers impacted by unplanned outages.
An amendment added to the resolution by Councilmember Willard will require Entergy to report performance neighborhood by neighborhood (at the feeder level) using IEEE standards that the Council set in 2023. It also requires Entergy to report outages and grid performance during “major event days.”
The Council’s committee unanimously adopted the resolution with amendment, and it will now go to the full council for a final vote at their next meeting.
The Alliance’s thoughts: Councilmembers are asking the right questions. Entergy is spending our money on hardening the grid, but residents and businesses still question whether the lights are going to go out every time there’s a hurricane, tropical storm, or even just heavy rain. We support the resolution with Councilmember Willard’s amendment. Data about major event days is crucial to understanding the full picture of what residents actually experience. We’re also strongly supportive of bill credits for outages that happen on fair weather days. Entergy needs to be held accountable for poor service.
The Sewerage & Water Board (SWBNO) provided an update on the recent July 11 flooding event, the Morrison Road water main repair, and the Florida Avenue Bridge project.
What went wrong on July 11: An operator error and communication breakdowns lead to the delayed start of a pump, which worsened flooding in AREA. SWBNO is still investigating the incident and expects to wrap that up in about a week and half.
Councilmember McCarron pressed SWBNO about what they could have done differently and raised concerns about relying on manual warning systems, staffing levels and staff training. Councilmembers also pressed SWBNO about persistent infrastructure issues.
The Alliance’s thoughts: Why didn’t SWBNO work with ENO on such an important project (the new $300 million power complex) to ensure that the technical specifications were correct? As Councilmember Harris pointed out, these pumps are the only thing standing between the city and serious flooding. We’re glad to see the Council pressing for accountability and solutions.
The Committee passed a resolution establishing a schedule to review ENO’s request to extend its formula rate plan. A Formula Rate Plan, or FRP, is a ratemaking method in which the utility adjusts its rates outside of a general rate case.
Typically, utility rates are set through a year-long process called a “general rate case.” Rate cases are how regulators set allowed profit margins, set expectations for operations and maintenance spending, and ensure our utilities have enough money to make investments needed to keep the electric grid running.
Some states conduct general rate cases any time a utility asks for an increase (sometimes annually), and others set them when a regulator sees a utility is collecting more money than necessary from their customers. There are even states that set the rates and haven’t touched them in decades (hey there Alabama). A full rate case can cost $6-8M or even more, and those costs (the utility’s costs and regulators costs) are covered by all ratepayers.
Formula rate plans allow for regulators and utilities to adjust rates annually, without going through a full general rate case, and are typically revisited on a three year basis.
Entergy New Orleans rates have been set using some version of a Formula Rate Plan for decades, and the parameters of the FRP in place today were approved in November 2019. Since then, rates have increased incrementally nearly every year, and the FRP has been extended in two or three year terms.
Whether our rates go up or down usually depends on whether the utility earned the profit margin it was allowed by the Council. If the utility earns more than the allowed amount, the rates are required to decrease based on a formula for the next year to ensure the utility doesn’t continue to “over earn/overcharge” customers. If the utility earns less than they were allowed, they are allowed to use the formula to increase their rates to give them an “opportunity” to earn their allowed profit. The current FRP sets Entergy allowed rate of return on equity (profit) between 8.85% to 9.85%.
Entergy’s current FRP is set to expire after this year, and this week they requested that their FRP be extended for 4 more years. Today the Council initiated the process to consider Entergy’s request.
The Alliance’s thoughts: An important element in this particular decision is how much change Entergy is going to see in their revenues as SWBNO buys more power from the electric utility and generates less of its power on-site with gas bought from Delta Gas. If rates are re-set using historic information that doesn’t account for lots of new revenue coming from SWBNO, Entergy would wind up over-charging all customers for at least a year.
Across many topics yesterday, the same theme showed up: our utility providers have the data, but haven’t always acted on it fast enough, or communicated clearly enough, when things go wrong. Yesterday, the Council asked the right questions to ensure our utilities are held accountable.
