Attorneys with three Louisiana law firms have filed a class action against Entergy Corp. on behalf of southeast Louisiana residents who allegedly suffered damages from extended power outages due to Hurricane Ida.
The lawsuit filed in the Orleans Parish by attorneys with the Cooper Law Firm and Juan LaFonta and Associates of New Orleans and Metairie-based Law Offices of Jack Harang accuses Entergy of not foreseeing the failure of distribution and transmission systems in the region.
“Entergy through their grossly inadequate maintenance and inspection program failed miserably in that obligation by using antiquated equipment, shoddy maintenance and lies to the city, the state and their customers,” the complaint states.
The company could have also made investments in the undergrounding of transmission lines to better assure customers of service in the wake of severe weather events, according to the lawsuit filed in September.
“Entergy’s greed and lies set the foreseeable stage for hundreds of thousands of people to be left without refrigeration, air conditioning and in many cases sewerage disposal,” the complaint says.
But Eric Smith, professor and associate director of the Tulane Energy Institute, points out that Entergy can only spend what its regulating agency, the city of New Orleans, says it can spend. In addition, spending more to harden the electrical transmission system would mean substantial rate hikes for ratepayers, he said.
“How can you accuse Entergy of being negligent when they’re following what their regulator tells them to do?” Smith told the Louisiana Record.
The company did in fact move to harden the system by undergrounding high-voltage cables under the Mississippi at the community of Violet more than a decade ago, he said, and many distribution lines in the Central Business District and French Quarter are now underground.
“The real issues are perceived risk and the willingness of ratepayers to foot the bill when this option can cost up to 10 times the cost of overhead installation,” Smith said.
It would be difficult to prove that the company willfully did something wrong, according to Smith, who said that the state sets standards for how weather-resistant the transmission system should be – such as building high-voltage lines that will survive 110-mile-per-hour winds.
“Has this lawsuit been filed to win, or has it been filed to give an excuse for publicity,” he asked. “I tend to come down on the latter side.”
One point of cooperation for the future might be the undergrounding of transmission lines beneath the Mississippi River at Nine Mile Point, which Smith said would not be too much more expensive than replacing the 400-foot pylons and stringing wire on them. The result would be a more resilient power system for New Orleans without much upward pressure on rates, he said.
Entergy did not respond to a request for comment.