A People's Platform: Light is Your Right

The New Orleans City Council has an extraordinary power — the regulation of electric and gas investor-owned utility companies.

The City of New Orleans Home Rule Charter gives the City Council this role in deciding the costs that Entergy and Delta Utilities charges to customers, the utilities’ profits, the quality of services they provide, and the kind of energy that powers our city. How councilmembers choose to exercise their utility regulatory authority affects the everyday lives of New Orleans residents.

​New Orleanians deserve and demand:

• Affordable bills
• Efficient homes
• Reliable/resilient power
• Renewable energy
• Transparent Council and accountable utilities

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For years, the Energy Future New Orleans Coalition has advocated for strong regulatory oversight of Entergy in order to lower costs to residents, increase the reliability of electric service in New Orleans, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are the cause of the changing climate threatening the future of our city. 
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Though the Council has a designated Utility, Cable, Telecommunications and Technology Committee (UCTTC), and the Climate and Sustainability Committee, each consisting of five members, all regulatory decisions are brought to the full Council for votes. Thus, all New Orleans City Council members are both legislators and regulators of major electric and gas utilities. Following town halls and discussions with New Orleanians across the city, we have prepared this platform to highlight what a new Council must address.  

​Affordable Bills
New Orleanians carry some of the highest energy burdens in the country. This means many residents are making hard decisions between paying utilities and  buying medications or paying rent. In 2023 roughly 20% of New Orleanians were disconnected for inability to pay. Utility bills are compounding the housing affordability crisis in our city. The Council has the authority to develop solutions to tackle these burdens, ranging from more targeted efficiency programs and  percentage of income programs. With the recent congressional action which ended the federally-funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, the crisis has reached an even greater level of urgency.

The Council should:

• Place at least a temporary moratorium on all residential disconnections
• Establish an arrearage management program that pairs debt forgiveness with energy efficiency improvements to help people stay out of utility debt
• Adopt a residential disconnection standard for Entergy New Orleans, with the goal of eliminating disconnections due to inability to pay

Efficient Homes 
​Too much of New Orleans’ housing stock is not prepared for the extreme heat (and now extreme cold) we experience each year, leading to energy rationing, unhealthy living conditions, and even higher bills.  The Council’s Energy Smart program is in its 15th year, and has saved New Orleanians millions of dollars by reducing energy waste.

The Council should:

• Adopt firm energy savings targets for low-income households and renters
• Establish an energy efficiency working group that receives regular facetime with the Council to help improve energy efficiency programming
• Establish new data collection and reporting protocols to ensure that program benefits are being targeted to and impacting those most in need
• Stop Entergy from charging customers for electricity it does not sell by eliminating lost contribution to fixed costs
• Create an fossil gas efficiency program in the mold of Energy Smart for customers of new gas utility Delta Utilities

Reliable & Resilient Power
​​Sunny day outages in New Orleans impact health, safety, and our economy. Long blackouts following storms threaten life and our ability to rebuild.

The Council should:

• Engage seriously with the MISO long-range transmission planning process, including by showing up to MISO and regional decision-making meetings
• Push Entergy to follow the Department of Justice recommendation that it divest of its transmission infrastructure
• Create incentives to help homeowners overcome the upfront costs of battery storage systems
• Strengthen existing reliability standards for Entergy by eliminating the major event day loophole
• Provide remuneration to ratepayers for frequent or prolonged outages through outage credits

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Renewable Energy
Thanks to prior work by this Council, New Orleans has the first Renewable and Clean Portfolio Standard in the region, directing Entergy to shift all power generation away from fossil fuels by 2040, but there is still more the Council can do to bring the benefits of renewable energy to New Orleans.  

The Council should:

• Make community solar truly accessible to low-income households and renters by implementing consumer-friendly consolidated billing
• Strengthen the City’s Renewable and Clean Portfolio Standard by creating a carveout for locally-generated renewable energy
• Reject false solutions such as blue hydrogen, carbon capture, and so-called “advanced” nuclear

​Accountable Council & Utilities
Too often following a storm or an embarrassing response from Entergy, the Council finds itself reacting and scrambling for information. As regulator, the Council can and should demand increased accountability and transparency from Entergy and Delta. 

​The Council should:

• Expand the reporting requirements for Entergy and Delta, especially around metrics pertaining to equity and public health, such as regular public reporting on disconnections and arrearages.
• Follow through with a management audit of Entergy
• Begin asking questions now about Delta’s capital investment plans and oppose any future rate increases​ ​

Learn More About our Light is Your Right Campaign