Entergy receives recovery award

Entergy today received the Edison Electric Institute’s Emergency Recovery Award to recognize the company’s exceptional power restoration efforts during five different storm events over the course of the past year.

This is the 17th consecutive year EEI has awarded Entergy with a national storm restoration award. Including this year’s honor, Entergy has received 22 awards from EEI for its restoration and mutual-assistance work.

“Our streak is alive,” said Greg Grillo, system storm incident commander for Entergy. “We remain the only company to have won either the Recovery or the Assistance Award, or both, in every year since the awards began in 1998.

“This year’s award demonstrates that the talents and restoration abilities of our employees continue to earn national recognition, and the appreciation of our customers whose power we restore following storms,” said Grillo.

Entergy earned the Emergency Recovery Award for its efforts to restore power to customers last year following storms that stretched from February through mid-October. Rather than experiencing a major storm, the company maintained a heavy cycle of storm preparation, response and recovery to storm events due to “much colder temperatures” in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Each storm caused more than 71,000 customer outages, with the storm of last October causing more than 88,000.

The award is presented annually to EEI member companies to recognize their extraordinary efforts to restore power to customers after service disruptions caused by severe weather conditions or natural events. The winners were chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process, and the awards were presented during EEI’s Spring CEO and Board of Directors meeting in Washington, D.C.

“Entergy’s exemplary efforts to restore service demonstrate the industry’s commitment to serving its customers,” said EEI President Tom Kuhn. “We commend the crews who braved dangerous conditions caused by the extreme weather, as they diligently worked to safely and quickly restore service.”

EEI is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Its members provide electricity for 220 million Americans, operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and directly employ more than 500,000 workers. EEI has 70 international electric companies as Affiliate Members, and 250 industry suppliers and related organizations as Associate Members.

Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power, making it one of the nation’s leading nuclear generators. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $12 billion and approximately 13,000 employees.