NEW ORLEANS - The City Council's Utility, Cable, Telecommunications, and Technology Committee will be meeting next week with Entergy New Orleans to discuss animal-related outages at Entergy substations. The meeting comes after several reported outages caused by animals last week, including one which resulted in outages for over 10,000 customers in the downtown, CBD, and Mid-City areas.
Councilmember Morrell released the following statement in regards to the meeting:
“Last week, over 10,000 New Orleans ratepayers lost power for hours because of a single bird, resulting in business closures. In light of the downtown outage and subsequent Lakeview power outages caused by a squirrel, I have requested for members of Entergy New Orleans to come before the Utility Committee to address the issue of animal-related system failures.
Incidents of power outages are unfortunately all too familiar to the residents of this city. These animal-related outages are not just mere inconveniences. They are hardships that grind our city to a halt.
When a bird topples key power sources for three years in a row, it’s time to take a deep dive into what is currently being done to prevent incidents like this, and which areas need improvement. If Entergy is going to request a rate increase, they should be able to explain how small animals repeatedly put thousands of customers in the dark.”
The meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 23, at 10 AM in the City Council Chamber. Anyone unable to attend the meeting may tune in at council.nola.gov/live.
WHAT: Utilities Committee meeting to address recent animal-related power outages
WHEN: Wednesday, March 23, at 10 AM
WHERE: City Council Chamber, New Orleans City Hall, 1300 Perdido St.
