Entergy Company

Entergy New Orleans lights up the path for the unsteady, libation-influenced patrons of Bourbon Street and others in the Crescent City. The regulated utility, a subsidiary of Entergy, distributes electricity to 161,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers and natural gas to more than 100,000 customers in Orleans Parish, Louisiana; it also owns two generating stations that give it more than 930 MW of generating capacity.  Entergy New Orleans provides regulated electric and gas utility services to the population of New Orleans. As a result of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a few weeks later; it emerged from bankruptcy in 2007. After the onslaught of wind and rain caused by Katrina subsided, the city of New Orleans was left crippled and Entergy New Orleans' employees were scrambling to restore power to the city's pumping stations. The company was forced to create an interim headquarters in Clinton, Mississippi (a suburb of Jackson). The mass evacuation and property damage caused by Hurricane Katrina severely reduced the population served by Entergy New Orleans. Before the big storm it had more than 190,000 electric customers and more than 144,000 gas customers. The company reported a 10% drop in net revenue in 2011 due to lower electric rates and weak gas prices. However, net income jumped by $4.9 million thanks to lower operational and maintenance expenses, lower taxes, and lower interest expense. To gain better financial returns, Entergy  plans to spin off its transmission businesses (including Entergy New Orleans') and merge them with a subsidiary of ITC Holdings. In 2012, as part of a strategy to improve customer relations, Entergy New Orleans introduced a smartphone app to keep customers better informed about company and energy-related matters.