NEW ORLEANS - Today, Council Utilities Chair Helena Moreno announced a Utilities Committee hearing on Tuesday, March 16, to discuss yesterday’s revelation by Entergy New Orleans that blackouts on Mardi Gras night unnecessarily affected, not 81MW of load as previously reported, but in fact a total of 105MW.

“Entergy revealed yesterday that almost four times as many customers were blacked out on Mardi Gras night - substantially more than the excess already announced - and that New Orleanians shouldered an excessive proportion of the total statewide blackout unnecessarily,” said Council President Moreno. “These shocking revelations only prompt even more questions and increase the breadth of our ongoing investigation. I look forward to pressing these questions with Entergy at our March 16 Committee hearing.”

This week, Entergy New Orleans announced via letter to the Council that the total size of the blackout, or load shedding event, was actually 105MW. This is nearly four times the 26MW required by the transmission operator, MISO, to stabilize the grid during that colder-than-normal week. At this point, it is known that at least 20,000 customers lost power unnecessarily, if not more.

You can watch the Utilities Hearing at Council.Nola.Gov beginning at 10 AM on Tuesday, March 16.

###

Media Contacts:

Andrew Tuozzolo

Chief of Staff, Office of Helena Moreno

AVTuozzolo@nola.gov

504.281.9882