PSC launches investigation into Entergy’s response to Mississippi power outages - WAPT Jackson

PSC launches investigation into Entergy’s response to Mississippi power outages

Storms knocked out power to thousands, some for days

The Mississippi Public Service Commission is launching an investigation into Entergy’s response to recent storm-related power outages.

Central District Public Service Commissioner Brent Bailey said he wants to understand why it took Entergy Mississippi so long to restore power after a series of summer storms left tens of thousands with no lights or air conditioning last month.

The three-member commission voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize a six-week investigation of the power company. Authorities will be requesting information from Entergy to get answers to Bailey’s questions.

“Did we have adequate personnel in place? What is the preparation made internally? And (what is) the process in which they evaluate the outages from putting out scouts to entering systems into s computer,” Bailey said.

Bailey believes answering those questions are critical because he suspects there are ongoing staffing problems. According to Bailey, people in the Eastover neighborhood in Jackson were forced to wait 16 hours to get the lights and AC back on after a weekend storm knocked out the power to 19 homes.

“We’re trying to determine why (were) there not crews available if we knew that crews were going to time out at midnight, or about that time Friday night or Saturday morning,” Bailey said.

Bailey also wants to know if so-called smart meters that alert the company when there’s an outage at a customer’s home are working properly and whether Entergy’s communication system is working properly.

“And we saw, quite frankly, a lapse in communications both outside Entergy to their customers and potentially within Entergy, itself,” Bailey said.

During the six-week investigation period, customers will be able to weigh in. They can email the commission at emlresponse@psc.ms.gov.

“We appreciate the commission’s acknowledgment of the unprecedented nature of the June storms, and we wholeheartedly agree with the Commission’s praise of Entergy Mississippi line workers and contractors who have worked tirelessly for days on end to restore power to customers. We look forward to the opportunity to provide the Commission with a deeper understanding of the challenges that last month’s treacherous weather brought into our service area, and the strategies we quickly implemented to avoid further delay to our customers," Entergy spokesperson Candace Coleman said in a statement to 16 WAPT News. "We have an intensive storm evaluation process, and we are working to correct issues experienced by the systems that identify where outages exist and provide customers with information about their outage and estimated restoration timeline. As we always do, we will keep the Commission apprised through this process.”