Customers are urged to make their personal storm plans

BATON ROUGE, La. – With the 2012 hurricane season officially under way, Entergy employees across Louisiana are ready to safely and quickly restore power should a major storm threaten Louisiana.

Entergy’s employees prepare year-round to ensure that they can provide the exceptional emergency response that has earned awards from the Edison Electric Institute awards for Entergy 14 years in a row – every year since the inception of the awards. Just as employees remain ready to mobilize for any storm threatening our service territory, customers are encouraged to be prepared by developing their personal storm plans to ensure the safety of their families, neighbors and personal property.

“Preparation for hurricanes or other major weather events is something that we focus on every single day of the year,” said Bill Mohl, president and chief executive officer of Entergy Louisiana and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana. “As proud as we are of our record of excellence in response and power restoration following severe weather events, our employees are committed to always providing the best service to our customers, storm or no storm. And we know that each experience offers us the opportunity to continue to learn, evolve and improve.

“In recent years, we’ve put that commitment into action by responding to some of history’s most destructive weather events – including hurricanes, ice storms, tornadoes and river flooding,” he added. “While experts predict this hurricane season will be less active, both Entergy and our customers must continue to make preparation a priority. Just one storm, if it comes our way, can have a major impact.”

How We Prepare

Storm preparation is a continuous cycle without a beginning or end. Through this strategic approach, we are able to respond, restore and safely reconnect our customers’ power more quickly and efficiently after every storm. Proactive facility and equipment maintenance strategies are used to help prevent outages before they occur and promote safe, fast restoration when they do occur.

This year Entergy’s Louisiana utilities will invest approximately $95 million on transmission and distribution reliability improvement projects, including approximately 6,200 circuit miles of tree trimming and proactive line inspections using infrared technology to identify and prevent potential problems well before a storm threatens.

The company also is leveraging advanced technology in the field to help improve reliability year-round. “Alternate Load Transfer schemes use advanced detection equipment to quickly isolate the location of a fault on a feeder line and transfer customers to an alternate feed,” said Dennis Dawsey, vice president of transmission and distribution operations for Entergy’s Louisiana utilities. “As a result, the impact to customers is a ‘blink,’ rather than a sustained outage. Ten ALT schemes already have been installed, and 10 more installations are planned by year end.”

Entergy also has bolstered the tools that allow customers to stay informed before, during and after a storm or outage event. Customers can track outages down to the street level using the company’s View Outages feature and can register online at entergy-louisiana.com or by text message to receive text alerts notifying them of outages and power restoration progress. Customers also can visit entergystormcenter.com for safety and preparation information as well as storm updates, photos and videos. Company updates are additionally available via the companies’ Twitter account (@EntergyLA).

What Customers Should Do to Prepare

As important as it is for Entergy and its employees to be ready for hurricanes and other weather events, customers should make their own preparations before a storm hits and have a plan in place in order to stay safe. Detailed information is available at entergystormcenter.com, but some key tips include:

•  Learn about evacuation routes and have a destination in mind before you leave.
• Pack important supplies such as nonperishable food, a multi-day supply of any necessary medications and supplies for small children and pets.
• Stock up on batteries and have a hand-cranked radio and flashlight available.
• Stay away from downed power lines.
• Never use a generator indoors.

“Getting your power back on quickly after a storm is our focus. But there’s one thing more important than that – and it’s doing our job safely,” said Mohl. “We encourage customers to also make safety their first priority before, during and after a storm.”

Entergy’s Louisiana utility companies serve more than one million customers through the operating companies Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. With operations in southern, central and northeastern Louisiana, the companies are part of Entergy Corporation’s electric system serving 2.8 million customers in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas.