Entergy Mississippi announces plan to reduce outages

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) — On Wednesday, Entergy Mississippi announced it will be giving its power grid an overhaul.

The company is investing an additional $300 million toward improvements.

Many of you have experienced power outages, especially when those severe storms roll through the area.

That’s why Entergy Mississippi is looking to artificial intelligence to help limit the risk for outages.

“We’ll be able to deploy new sensors and devices, re-closers, and this is where AI and the grid starts to come in and create new opportunities. We create self-healing networks,” said Haley Fisackerly, CEO of Entergy Mississippi. “So, when a fault happens on a grid somewhere, sensors activate. They can open up sections, close sections, and reroute power and get customers back on quickly as possible.”

Many of you may be wondering if these grid upgrades are going to cost you more on your electricity bill.

According to Entergy Mississippi, you won’t have to worry about your rates rising.

“We also know we have to be mindful of affordability and we’re all seeing costs going up every day,” Fisackerly explained. “The growth that’s coming is going to allow for us a way to pay for it and not adversely impact the bills to our customers. That excites me and that’s what we’ve been trying to do — some way to improve service but recognize that we have to be affordable too.”

Those who live in rural communities may experience longer restoration times when your power goes out. Fisackerly said these new sensors will help power be restored quicker than ever.

“In an urban area like this, you have a more defined grid that you can reroute power. In rural areas, you’re dealing with circuits that can run tens and tens of miles. So the sensors help us identify where a fault may happen so our lineman can find where the problem is quicker and get there to repair it.”

This $300 million investment will bring the total for grid improvements to $1 billion.

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