Renewed calls for Entergy to fix broken equipment in Jefferson Parish

METAIRIE, La. (WGNO) — Frustration is mounting for residents in Jefferson Parish after a brief power outage struck the area, impacting over 14,000 people. Now, more are calling for Entergy to repair broken or deteriorating equipment.

“You still see in a vast majority of the parish, polls that look terrible, poles that are leaning, poles that are old. I don’t know what a pole shelf life is, but I believe a lot of the ones I see in Jefferson Parish are well beyond their shelf life,” Councilman Scott Walker said.

Following the power outage in Metairie on Wednesday, Walker posted to Facebook, asking residents to send pictures of damaged poles in their area. According to Entergy, the outage was caused by a piece of equipment at a substation and was not related to their power poles.

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However, Walker says after 20 outages this year and five just this month, something has to change.

“This is the 21st century, let’s move forward with some new innovation, some new way to ensure that our grid is as secure and stable, and we’re building for the future of Jefferson Parish,” Walker said.

WGNO News reached out to Entergy and was told they are aware of certain issues and are actively working to fix them.

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In a statement, they wrote, “Our crews are identifying the root causes of recent power outages and implementing targeted infrastructure improvements, including installing new equipment and upgrading existing systems. Additionally, we are proactively upgrading poles throughout Jefferson Parish as part of the newly approved resiliency plan.”

But Walker isn’t convinced.

“Right now, if you look around this parish, and you know that we’re in the meat of hurricane season, all the poles we lost during Ida, you’re going to lose just that many poles again, if not more if another big storm comes through, because so many are in bad shape,” said Walker.

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