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NEW ORLEANS - Today, District “C” Councilmember Kristin Palmer filed a resolution (R-21-337) requesting that the City Council, the regulatory body of Entergy New Orleans (ENO), stop rate increases for the recovery costs of Hurricane Ida.
“We need to be very clear here—Entergy failed the people of New Orleans. It’s inexcusable that our entire City was left in the dark for weeks following Hurricane Ida. People died. Most of them were part of our City’s most vulnerable populations who suffered in the sweltering heat. Asking for the people of New Orleans to pay more for bad service caused by obvious negligence is not going to cut it,” said Councilmember Palmer.
The resolution puts the Council on record that any cost caused by the failure of power utilities during Hurricane Ida can not simply be passed onto Entergy’s customers. If approved, the Council could only consider rate increases tied to storm recovery costs after first going through an open and transparent review of ENO’s actions and plans that prove that the City-wide power outage was not a result of any failure of ENO. Even then, Palmer urges federal lawmakers to step in with resources so residents are not directly responsible.
“It’s not enough to just wag our finger at Entergy," she continued. "We need to let them know that we aren’t going to stand for avoidable negligence that kills our people. Anyone else in New Orleans who doesn’t do their job doesn’t get paid—the same should go for Entergy.”
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