JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — Over the past week, about 22,600 Jefferson Parish residents were without power at some point. According to Entergy, it was because of issues with equipment at a substation. But Councilmember at Large Scott Walker says it's unacceptable.
"It’s happening at bad times, it’s happening when the weather is great, it’s happening when the weather is bad as well," Walker said.
"It just seems like the Entergy infrastructure over time hasn’t kept up with improvements the way it should be and people are tired of paying exorbitant fees. Hurricane restoration fee on top of hurricane restoration fee and not seeing in large parts of Jefferson parish the actual restoration," Walker said.
Plus – we're in the thick of hurricane season. While we haven't gotten a storm so far this year, Walker worries about what will happen if we do, he says especially since service has been unreliable during sunny days.
"I’m concerned and look Ida is a perfect example. Because of the rapid intensification of storms over the past few years," he explained. "You’re not able to take advantage of contraflow you’re not able to order a mandatory evacuation as quickly so a lot more people are staying," Walker said.
"So when there are that many people here and the power goes out and it’s out for an extended people well those people are out from the moment it goes out to when it comes back," he added.
In a statement to WWL Louisiana, Entergy said in part, that their "crews are identifying the root causes of recent power outages and implementing targeted infrastructure improvements, including installing new equipment and upgrading existing systems."
In response to resiliency concerns, they say their plan "will help fund future grid hardening projects that will start in Jefferson Parish imminently."
Walker says it still isn't enough though, so he's invited Entergy to the next Jefferson Parish council meeting in hopes that hearing some of the concerns will push them to do better. He worries that higher-ups aren't fully aware of the extent of the issues. He says at the very least he hopes Entergy will be more transparent because he says residents deserve more.
"People just want to have a quality of life that assures them power and I think people are understanding to a certain degree, but when things happen they expect an explanation and they expect it to be restored relatively quickly and they want to know the money they’re paying is going to the right infrastructure upgrades," Walker said.
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