EFNO Presses Council for Entergy Accountability Post-Francine

The Energy Future New Orleans coalition  is calling for greater transparency and accountability from Entergy New Orleans (ENO) following the utility’s response to Hurricane Francine. In a letter addressed to the New Orleans City Council and sent on October 10, EFNO expressed concerns that “ENO still has not provided an estimate of storm recovery costs from Francine” and the impact those costs could have on residents, who are already struggling with historically high bills.

“Despite two Council hearings – on September 16 and September 25 – ENO still has not provided an estimate of storm recovery costs from Francine,” the coalition wrote. In the letter, EFNO emphasized that such estimates are typically provided “within a few days after a major disaster” and that Entergy’s delay “suggests major flaws in how Entergy tracks and accounts for infrastructure.” The coalition noted that accurate and timely storm cost estimates are critical to prevent the utility from passing on costs to residents for damage that may be due to pre-existing infrastructure issues like poor maintenance. 
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The letter also highlighted that while much of the recent Council hearings centered around tree trimming and vegetation management, ENO’s own data points to a different issue: “ENO’s outage data indicates that vegetation has played a relatively minor role—causing about 11% of customer service interruptions this year.” In contrast, equipment failures accounted for 35% of recent outages citywide, and in District E, that figure rose to 43%. As stated in the letter, this pattern suggests “substandard maintenance of ENO’s infrastructure,” citing 35 failed feeders during Hurricane Francine as evidence.

EFNO urged the Council to require ENO to provide a detailed report of Hurricane Francine storm recovery costs and to supply more information on specific issues. “The Council should demand of Entergy more information regarding the replacement of faulty lightning arresters to ensure that ratepayers are not paying twice for the same equipment,” the letter stated.

EFNO’s letter comes at a critical time as the Council has been discussing resilience and storm-hardening investments in the aftermath of Francine. The coalition stressed that any new projects funded by residents must have “clear resilience targets, robust evaluation metrics, and enforcement mechanisms to ensure that promised resilience benefits actually materialize.”

EFNO’s message was clear: New Orleans cannot afford to continue a cycle of costly repairs without meaningful improvements and transparency. “We cannot afford to continue the cycle that began almost 20 years ago after Hurricane Katrina—repeatedly giving ENO millions and millions of ratepayer dollars to rebuild the same inadequate grid. Our lives and livelihoods depend upon it.”

As the City Council considers its next steps, EFNO hopes that our call for greater transparency and accountability will help protect residents and ensure a more resilient, affordable energy system.

View EFNO's Letter to the Council