ENTERGY FRI 5:25 p.m. UPDATE: Timelines of local restoration shared
Published 5:36 pm Friday, August 28, 2020
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At 5:25 p.m. Friday, Entergy Texas outlined a projected timeline for the region’s power restoration, announcing “these times may change if crews find additional damage.”
- Silsbee and Beaumont are expected to be restored by the end of Sunday.
- The majority of Port Arthur, with the exception of part of Groves, should also be restored by the end of Sunday. The remaining customers in Groves should be restored by Monday.
- The Orange area suffered the most extensive damage and Entergy continues to assess the area. They believe the majority of customers in Orange will be restored by Sept. 4. Some areas may experience longer outages due to extensive transmission line damage.
More than 7,000 people have been mobilized across Southeast Texas to complete Entergy Texas’ restoration efforts.
At its peak, Entergy Texas experienced 291,000 outages, with the hardest-hit areas in Jefferson, Orange and Hardin counties.
Hurricane Laura also significantly damaged transmission lines connecting Texas to the broader electric grid resulting in an order by MISO, a reliability coordinator, to begin rotating outages for customers.
Thursday night, crews made significant repairs to transmission lines across the Entergy Texas region that will improve the stability of the transmission system. Additionally, Entergy Texas was able to start up units at a power plant along the Texas/Louisiana state line.
While this power plant was in the direct path of Hurricane Laura, it suffered minimal damage and crews were able to complete the start up Friday morning.
This adds generation to the Texas area that allows us to serve additional load.
Entergy does not anticipate rotating outages to be required.
“(Thursday) was a tough day for our customers,” said Sallie Rainer, president and CEO of Entergy Texas. “I want to thank our customers and apologize for any additional disruption these outages have caused. While we were spared the worst of Laura, the damage it did cause forced us to take these rolling outages as a last resort to stabilize the broader grid. We are working to restore customers affected by Laura as quickly as is safely possible.”
Crews continue to work across the area to assess damage and complete restorations. In addition to the 7,000 workers, Entergy has 6 staging sites in Orange, Port Arthur and Beaumont areas to base our operations.
Additionally, customers are urged to remain cautious, as scammers are working to take advantage of customers affected by Laura, threatening disconnection of service and asking for immediate payment over the phone.
Entergy will never ask for personal information over the phone or demand payment using money orders or gift cards. Visit entergy.com/scams to learn how to protect yourself.
Entergy will keep customers informed throughout the company’s response. Here is how customers can get information: Download the Entergy App at entergyapp.com.
Sign up for text alerts by texting REG to 36778 and have your account number and ZIP code handy. The registration pattern is as follows including spaces: REG (account number) (ZIP code). Once registered, text OUT to 36778 to report an outage. You can also report an outage online as a guest.