NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Following
Hurricane Ida making landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana on Aug.
29, Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) announced today its
utilities have restored power to approximately 932,000 customers,
which is 98% of customers affected by the storm. Entergy is still
making significant progress in the remaining hardest hit areas of
southeast Louisiana. Crews have
restored power to all affected Entergy customers in Mississippi.
In response to the extensive damage caused by the storm, Entergy
deployed a workforce of approximately 27,000 workers from 41
states.
"We are grateful for the thousands of men and women who worked
tirelessly to safely restore power for our customers," said
Rod West, Entergy utility group
president. "Hurricane Ida inflicted significant damage on Entergy's
electric system that resulted in 948,000 outages at its peak.
Our job is not yet complete and despite the extent of the damage,
the teams have made significant progress. We anticipate that all
remaining customers who can safely take power should be restored by
Sept. 29."
Damage Assessment
Hurricane Ida's historic intensity brought a tremendous amount
of damage to the Entergy distribution and transmission systems in
southeast Louisiana. The storm's
damage across Entergy's system included:
- more than 30,500 distribution poles,
- nearly 6,000 transformers,
- nearly 36,500 spans of distribution wire,
- approximately 500 transmission structures damaged or
destroyed,
- more than 225 substations, and
- more than 210 transmission lines.
Over the past five years, Entergy's operating companies have
invested $9.5 billion in transmission
and distribution assets that met or exceeded then-current
resiliency standards. Ida demonstrated the resiliency benefits of
these investments. Along a transmission path originating in Port
Fourchon, where Ida made landfall, only three out of the 387 newer,
more resilient structures were destroyed. In contrast, a seven-mile
transmission line with pre-1997 design structures along this same
path was taken down by Ida, with more than half of the line's
structures destroyed.
Hurricane Ida presented a severe wind-loading event that caused
significant damage to the distribution system. With strong Category
4 strength winds upon landfall and sustained hurricane strength
winds through New Orleans and
beyond, Ida caused substantially more distribution pole damage than
previous storms. On key lines in coastal areas, poles are being
replaced with more resilient Class 1 grade distribution poles that
can be configured to withstand winds of more than 130 miles per
hour, which exceeds current requirements. To meet the intensity of
future weather events, Entergy recognizes the need for accelerated
system hardening, as well as continuing to advance its preventive
maintenance programs including vegetation management and pole
inspections.
As part of the recovery efforts, Entergy has worked to provide
support for its communities while they recover from Ida. The
company deployed 165 commercial scale generators to power critical
community infrastructure such as medical facilities, gas stations,
grocery stores, municipal water systems and community cooling
centers in advance of their power being restored. Further,
Entergy's shareholders committed $1.25
million in financial support to help affected communities
rebuild and recover from the storm.
For additional information on Entergy's restoration efforts
following Hurricane Ida, visit entergy.com/hurricaneida.
Financial Implications
Total restoration costs for the repair and/or replacement of the
electrical facilities damaged by Hurricane Ida are estimated to be
in the range of $2.1 billion to
$2.6 billion. Most of the storm costs
were incurred by Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans. The
preliminary estimate for Entergy Louisiana is $2.0 billion to $2.4
billion, and the preliminary estimate for Entergy New
Orleans is $120 million to
$150 million.
Entergy also expects utility revenues in 2021 to be adversely
affected, primarily due to power outages resulting from the
hurricane. The company's initial estimate of lost non-fuel revenue
is approximately $75 million to
$85 million, with most of this impact
occurring in Entergy Louisiana's and Entergy New Orleans's service
areas, $65 million to $70 million and $10
million to $15 million,
respectively. The financial impact of the lost revenue is expected
to be partly offset by lower operation and maintenance
expenses.
The company affirms its 2021 adjusted earnings per share
guidance range of $5.80 to
$6.10 and its 2022 and 2023 adjusted
earnings per share outlooks of $6.15
to $6.45 and $6.55 to $6.85,
respectively.
Entergy believes its liquidity is sufficient to meet its current
obligations. As of Aug. 31, 2021,
Entergy's liquidity of $4.2 billion
consists of cash and cash equivalents ($1.0
billion), available revolver capacity ($4.1 billion), and storm escrows ($72 million), less commercial paper outstanding
($1.0 billion). The company plans to
seek expedited recovery of its Hurricane Ida storm expenses using
securitization financings. Assuming Entergy receives the proceeds
from these securitization financings in 2022, the company expects
to achieve key S&P Global Ratings' and Moody's Investors
Services' credit metrics by the end of 2022 sufficient to maintain
current credit ratings.
The company has a long history of working collaboratively with
its regulators to recover storm costs. Entergy Louisiana and
Entergy New Orleans are considering all available avenues to
recover storm-related costs from Hurricane Ida in a manner that
will minimize the effects on customers, including federal
government assistance and securitization financing. There are
well-established mechanisms for recovery of prudently incurred
storm costs in accordance with applicable regulatory and legal
principles. Further, Entergy has been coordinating with Governor
Edwards and the Louisiana
congressional delegation to seek Community Development Block Grant
disaster recovery funds and other funding options from the federal
government. President Biden, who has been a vocal advocate of
support for the recovery of the Gulf region, recently sent a
$24 billion request to Congress for
supplemental disaster appropriations, which includes $10 billion for Ida impacts nationwide. If
approved, a portion of these funds could be allocated to Entergy
to, in turn, reduce the customer burden dollar-for-dollar.
Forward-Looking Statements
In this news release, and from time to time, Entergy Corporation
makes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements
regarding Entergy's 2021 earnings guidance; its current financial
and operational outlooks; expectations around restoration timing,
costs and recovery; and other statements of Entergy's plans,
beliefs, or expectations included in this news release. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which apply only as of the date of this news release.
Except to the extent required by the federal securities laws,
Entergy undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether because of new information,
future events, or otherwise.
Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks,
uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those expressed or implied in such
forward-looking statements, including (a) those factors discussed
in this release and in Entergy's most recent Annual Report on Form
10-K, any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Entergy's
other reports and filings made under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934; (b) uncertainties associated with rate proceedings, formula
rate plans and other cost recovery mechanisms, including the risk
that costs may not be recoverable to the extent or on the timeline
anticipated by the utilities; (c) uncertainties associated with
efforts to remediate the effects of major storms and recover
related restoration costs; (d) legislative and regulatory actions
and risks and uncertainties associated with claims or litigation by
or against Entergy and its subsidiaries; (e) effects of changes in
federal, state or local laws and regulations and other governmental
actions or policies, including changes in monetary, fiscal, tax,
environmental or energy policies; (f) the direct and indirect
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Entergy and its customers; and
(g) the effect of technological change, including the cost, pace of
development and commercialization of new and emerging
technologies.
About Entergy Corporation
Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged in
electric power production, transmission and retail distribution
operations. Entergy delivers electricity to 3 million utility
customers in Arkansas,
Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy owns and operates one of the
cleanest large-scale U.S. power generating fleets with
approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity,
including 7,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Headquartered in
New Orleans, Louisiana, Entergy
has annual revenues of $10 billion
and approximately 12,500 employees. Learn more at entergy.com and
follow @Entergy on social media.
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SOURCE Entergy Corporation