Reliable power starts long before a storm hits. Through a statewide effort that brings multiple crews together in targeted areas, Entergy Arkansas is upgrading poles, improving system standards and investing in infrastructure improvements that help keep the lights on for customers across Arkansas.
Crews from across the southeast region recently converged in Carlisle as part of a coordinated reliability effort knows as a “swarm”. Entergy Arkansas Line Supervisor Bret Erstine said each week for six months out of the year, one to two crews from each network in the region tackle critical upgrades.
“We rotate to different areas around the region to ensure every customer’s needs can be met,” Erstine said.
In Carlisle, that work includes replacing approximately 39 aging poles in a rural farming community. Many of those poles date back to the 1920s and 1930s.
“Most of the poles out here are 35 to 40 feet tall,” Erstine said. “With the way farming is today, all of the equipment has only gotten bigger, so we have a lot of clearance issues from time to time through these fields.”
The new poles now stand at 45 to more than 50 feet tall.
“We will be bringing everything up to standards,” Erstine said. “The new poles will give us plenty of clearance now and for the future.”
The work reflects a broader commitment under Entergy Arkansas’s Next Generation Arkansas vision, designed to position the state for long-term prosperity. Better power is one of the four pillars the company is highlighting, with a focus on strengthening the grid and reducing outages by at least 30% in the coming years.
“Our goal is to keep the lights on for our customers and that’s what this project will do,” Erstine said.
For the crews tackling these projects, the impact is personal.
“If we’re doing good reliability work, it’s very satisfying,” Erstine said. “There’s nothing better than a customer coming up and shaking your hand or saying, ‘Entergy has done a great job.’ It makes you feel good.”
In a world powered by electricity, those quiet upgrades in a rural field can make all the difference, keeping Arkansas communities powered for whatever comes next.
