Leaders of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, HousingNOLA, the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance (GNOHA), Power Coalition for Equity and Justice (PCEJ), the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ), the Bunny Friend Neighborhood Association, the New Orleans Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA-NO), 350 New Orleans, the Climate Reality Project, Step Up Louisiana, the Sierra Club Delta Chapter, the Greater New Orleans Interfaith Climate Coalition, and Healthy Gulf have submitted a letter requesting that the New Orleans City Council open an investigation into spending by Entergy New Orleans related to advertising, public relations, consulting, lobbying and commissioned research.
The letter also requests that the council join the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) in their investigation of jurisdictional electric, water, wastewater, and gas utilities’ use of ratepayer funds on political spending (docket R-36832).
In the past year, it has become increasingly clear that Entergy New Orleans (ENO) has devoted substantial resources in an highly coordinated effort to promote and influence the public and law makers – including primetime television advertisements and funding of a recently established “independent” nonprofit organization, Resilience NOLA, to produce research and testimony in support of “Operation Gridiron,” a $1 billion plan to upgrade utility infrastructure for the City of New Orleans, to be paid for by new fees for New Orleans ratepayers.
Despite the robust influence campaign waged on behalf of Operation Gridiron, members of the Climate Change and Sustainability Committee advanced only parts of ENO’s proposed investments, limiting rate hikes on ratepayers in order to move forward with projects for which ENO received federal grant funding and which were determined to have public benefit. But reporting following that meeting revealed that testimony provided during the hearing, which was presented as independent expertise, was in fact funded by ENO in an effort to bolster passage of the full $1 billion proposal and further raise electric bills.
As the regulator for ENO, the Council now has the opportunity – and an obligation – to determine whether or not the utility is using ratepayer funds to finance these advertising and advocacy efforts rather than investing in repairs to its poorly maintained and unreliable grid.
