Thank you.

Thank you for your patience, your understanding and reaching out to help one another as severe winter weather impacted a large portion of our state. We know that being without power is difficult, especially when temperatures are lower than we are accustomed to seeing. This storm was an historic event—the most destructive ice storm in the state since 1994. It brought disruptions and hardships to communities across our service area, but your resourcefulness and compassion proved to be much stronger. And as we restored, we worked to build back a stronger, more resilient grid so that the next ice storm, tornado, hurricane or other natural disaster will result in fewer outages and shorter restoration times.

Thank you for your patience as our crews worked to safely restore your power.

It was a marathon restoration in harsh conditions that brought more than its fair share of challenges to our customers and the communities we serve. The heavy ice caused severe tree damage and structural impacts, creating widespread debris and blocked access routes. The difficult terrain and remote locations required special vehicles to access, and continued tree failures brought down additional poles and spans of wire, resulting in additional outages.

An army of men and women worked tirelessly from before the storm arrived until the last light came back on. More than 2,800 workers were engaged in this effort, including company employees, contractors and mutual aid resources in the field, who traveled here from more than 20 states and Canada.

They spent days away from their families, faced extreme and hazardous conditions, and worked long hours to repair damage to our distribution and transmissions systems, which was extensive. Sustained damage affected about 620 miles of distribution and transmission lines, enough to stretch from Jackson, Mississippi to Charlotte, North Carolina. Almost 1,400 distribution poles had to be repaired or replaced.

While crews were out in the field, our logistics and support teams worked behind the scenes to keep restoration moving. This included delivering materials to staging areas, deploying generators to critical facilities and arranging lodging and meals for restoration workers.

We’re grateful for your understanding and appreciation.

There is no doubt that we faced many challenges as we worked to restore power to 87,000 customers, more than 90% of whom were restored in just eight days.

But every challenge we faced was tempered by our customers’ thankfulness. Time and again, in community after community and neighborhood after neighborhood, you expressed your concern for the safety of our lineworkers. All of our workers felt and appreciated the words of encouragement, cheers and gratitude you shared with them along the way. Your appreciation for their efforts means the world to them.

Despite the hardships this storm created, our communities came together to prevail.

As they always do in times of need, the American Red Cross and Extra Table FEEDs immediately mobilized their resources to help.

We were proud to support their efforts, committing $25,000 to the American Red Cross following the storm to provide critical relief by opening warming shelters, serving meals and distributing relief supplies. We also joined hands with Extra Table FEEDS, a statewide nonprofit food bank, to provide 40,000 meals to families in need.

We opened a Customer Information Center in Grenada to provide customers with outage and restoration updates and information on assistance programs.

Today, our grid is even stronger.

In 2023, a tornado struck the town of Rolling Fork, damaging many of our assets in the process. When we rebuilt our infrastructure back in that community, we made it even stronger. During the winter storm, we were able to see first-hand the benefits of these investments. Our infrastructure mirrored the resilient spirit of the town itself, standing strong against the ice and sleet.

As we repaired damage from the winter storm, we took a similar approach, upgrading to stronger materials where possible. And, we will continue to strengthen the grid through Superpower Mississippi, our five-year investment in reliability, to help reduce the number and duration of outages. It is the largest, most comprehensive grid upgrade in the company’s history and will not only save customers millions but will help our grid withstand future storms.

Thank you for being a valued Entergy Mississippi customer and for your unwavering support for our team. We are committed to helping customers by delivering affordable, safe power to the communities we serve.