Dangerous Record Heat Raises Importance of Government Program
New Orleans, La. – Employees of
Entergy New Orleans, Inc., Entergy Louisiana, LLC and local community partners
join advocates from across the country in Washington, D.C. today to urge
Congress to restore America''s energy safety-net program to its $5.1 billion
funding level.
The effort is part of the National
Fuel Funds Network’s LIHEAP Summer Action Day on Capitol Hill. LIHEAP is the Low
Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
“We’ve got to go all we can to help
our customers find the means to pay for essential heating and cooling,” said
Charles Rice, president and chief executive officer of Entergy New Orleans, Inc.
“LIHEAP helps those who truly need assistance. It’s especially important to
Louisiana’s elderly and infirm who are ill-equipped to handle these high summer
temperatures. Louisiana families need LIHEAP more than ever.”
Current 2012 funding for LIHEAP is
$3.47 billion. But as poverty is rising to levels not seen since 1965, U.S.
House and Senate legislators have recently endorsed the same level of funding
for the program next year. The measures await further review and votes in the
full U.S. House and Senate.
“The support of thousands of families
in need depends entirely upon the financial commitment that Congress chooses to
make to this important program,” Rice added.
In Louisiana, 832,000 residents live
in poverty… that’s 18.8 percent of the population and is the fifth highest
poverty rate in the nation. And although LIHEAP prioritizes households with
seniors, disabled and preschoolers, the program is also increasingly reaching
households of U.S. veterans and even active-duty members of America’s military
services – 20 percent of Louisiana households that were helped by LIHEAP in 2011
had a family member that served in the armed forces.
In addition to engaging
representatives in Congress, Entergy New Orleans and Entergy Louisiana also
provide local assistance through the Power to Care fund, which allows customers
and employees to contribute toward helping low-income customers with monthly
utility bills. New online tools at
entergy.com/savemoney also provide customers interactive virtual assistance
to help them manage their electricity usage and access payment options.
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.
Entergy New Orleans, Inc. is an
electric and gas utility serving Orleans Parish and is a subsidiary of Entergy
Corporation. The company provides electricity to more than 160,000 customers and
natural gas to more than 100,000 customers in Orleans Parish.
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entergy-louisiana.com
entergy-neworleans.com
Twitter: EntergyLA
Twitter: EntergyNOLA
