Upgrades coming to Entergy electric grid to better withstand storms

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Thousands of people lost power in Ascension Parish after Hurricane Francine rolled through. Now, Entergy is looking to make upgrades to its electric grid. David Freese said a new grant of $39 million go towards replacing 60 miles of power poles and strengthening power lines in Gonzales and Sorrento. This will make sure almost 6,000 customers including homes, Our Lady of the Lake Ascension Hospital, Lamar Dixon Expo Center, schools, Sorrento City Hall, and Sorrento Police Department are better protected from future storms.

“We always hope for the best and prepare for the worst and putting investments into our electric system to improve to only reliability but also resilience helps with doing just that,” said Freese.

These upgrades will not only increase your chances of not losing power but also save crews days’ worth of time trying to get people back online if it is lost.

“The more resilient our electric system is, the faster we can get the lights back on following a storm, the faster our economy can recover, the faster people can get back to work, get back to school, and back to just their daily lives,” explained Freese.

Ascension Parish is not the only place seeing some upgrades. East Baton Rouge Parish will be getting new power poles and lines in North Baton Rouge over the next five years thanks to an almost $2 million dollar grant from the Public Service Commission.

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