Letter to The Advocate: Asking the Right Questions

01.10.2022
Reliability & Resilience
Utility Regulation
New Orleans City Council
Entergy New Orleans
Renewable Energy
Transmission

On January 5, The Advocate published a staff editorial on the reliability – or, rather, unreliability – of our state’s electrical grid.

While the piece argued its strawman positions vehemently, it certainly was not arguing against any position held by serious advocates of electric utility reform. The notion that clean energy and resilience advocates want to “eliminate the conventional power grid” is utterly fantastical.

We have argued the exact opposite: that Entergy should be investing in the transmission and distribution systems, and that it should stop the stonewalling tactics it has used to constrain transmission of cheap renewable energy to our state, rather than investing in costly projects such as the New Orleans Power Station, which do not perform as promised and do not increase resilience in the wake of tropical storm systems.

The editorial fails to provide any context for the current state of Entergy’s transmission system in our state, such as the fact that Entergy was within the past decade the subject of a federal investigation into its anti-competitive practices around transmission, and that it joined a regional transmission organization, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, as a result. Entergy has spent considerable effort and resources since that time attempting to obstruct meaningful expansion of transmission to our state.

The editors question the affordability of renewable energy and battery storage, but fail to pose the critical question: Is our current system affordable? Is continuing to prop up the same, fossil fuel-dependent system year after year through storm recovery riders affordable? Tropical storm systems are increasing in frequency and intensity due to our continuing reliance on fossil fuels – such as methane, or “natural gas” – for electricity generation. Abandoning the electrical grid is absurd, but the transition to a renewable, more resilient grid is a necessity, not an option.

Related News
Missed our Bill Clinic? Here’s What You Need to Know
06.25.2025
Utility Regulation
SCR22 Points The Way Forward In Preventing Future Load Shed Events
06.03.2025
Utility Regulation
9 Major Questions About The May 25 Load Shedding Event
05.26.2025
Utility Regulation
Meta’s Mega Data Center Could Strain Louisiana’s Grid — and Entergy Isn’t Prepared
05.22.2025
Utility Regulation
LPSC Vote Leaves Louisiana Families Without the Savings They Deserve
05.19.2025
Utility Regulation
Louisiana Consumer Advocate calls on FERC to Reject MISO’s New Utility-Driven Fast Lane for Projects
05.15.2025
Transmission, Bills & Economics
LPSC To Decide What’s Next For Program That Saves Louisianans Money
05.12.2025
Utility Regulation
Lights Out: What We Know About the SWEPCO Load Shed Event
05.08.2025
Utility Regulation