NEW ORLEANS — A day after Executive Chef and owner Eric Cook passionately posted via social media that Saint John would be closing its doors after power was shut off for an unpaid Entergy New Orleans bill, the popular French Quarter restaurant is set to remain open – for the time being.
Saint John, which is located in the 1100 Block of Decatur Street, was asked to pay a $40,000 Entergy bill, according to Executive Chef and owner Eric Cook. His social media plea was the subject of several comments, reposts and shares.
As of Friday evening, Cook said he was working with Entergy to get his situation rectified, though what a resolution looked like was not totally clear.
“By no means are we out of the woods yet. We have to figure out how to deal with this; nothing goes away,” Cook told our partners at The Times Picayune | New Orleans Advocate on Friday. “But we have an opportunity to do business and keep everyone employed while we work it out. It’s good, but it’s not a resolution to the problem.”
Cook and his attorneys met with Entergy representatives Friday afternoon to begin working through the billing dispute and hope to re-open with most of the staff that was let go upon the initial decision to close.
"We thought we were going to have to let all of these people go, you know, without a job," Chef de Cuisine Daren Porretto told WWL-TV's Alyssa Curtis. "Everyone stood behind us and even former employees were reaching out, talking about they got our back whatever happens. And I think everybody that is currently with us ... that they're all back on on board with us, which is amazing."
According to Cook's social media post, he has a dispute over both the amount of the bill and whether anyone can find the Entergy meter they are being charged for on their property. He referred to it as a "ghost meter."
"Entergy New Orleans has shut off the power to our building, a building that we do not own, a building that they do not even have the slightest idea of who is responsible for the meters that THEY own and installed or where those meters even exist on the property," Executive Chef and owner Eric Cook claimed in his post on Thursday.
In a response sent to WWL-TV on Thursday, Entergy said it does not disconnect service to any building until it visits a site and confirms the meter reading and location. The company said that it did so in this location but was prevented from commenting further due to its customer bill of rights.
Here is the full statement from Entergy:
“Entergy New Orleans’ goal is always to work with customers to achieve the shared goal of continued service. In this case, the New Orleans City Council’s CUSTOMER BILL OF RIGHTS prohibits Entergy New Orleans from disclosing specific information about an individual customer’s bill without the permission of that customer.
“In light of the press release from Saint John’s PR firm this afternoon and statements posted on social media, we reached out to the customer to request permission to discuss their account. Restaurant ownership has not responded.
“Given those constraints, we are unable to respond to statements made in connection with this account. We can say that prior to any disconnect, our team will visit a site to confirm the meter reading and location. Standard procedure was followed in this instance.
“We would be happy to restore service immediately once we speak with the customer and agree on a payment plan option that they can afford.”
This isn't the first time Cook has received a bill like this from Entergy. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Cook says Entergy auto-drafted $35,000 from the restaurant's bank account through a billing error.
Friday morning, Cook met with City Councilmember Helena Moreno, whom he tagged in the original social media post as she sits on the Utilities, Cable, Telecommunications and Technology Committee, which oversees the council's responsibilities as regulator of Entergy New Orleans.
"So it took from yesterday to this morning, but we do have his power put back on," New Orleans Councilwoman Helena Moreno, who was tagged in Cook's post, told Curtis on Friday. "I can't talk to like specifics of like what's happening with this bill. But what I can say is that we are working on a plan to get it, get it resolved and hopefully we'll get this all done."
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