Power Update from Entergy

Current Outages

• As of 9 p.m., more than 779,000 customers were still without power throughout the Entergy service territory.

• Nearly 55,000 Entergy customers have been restored whose electrical service was disrupted by Hurricane Gustav.

Louisiana Total

740,126
Entergy New Orleans, Inc

79,083
Entergy Louisiana, LLC.

409,583
Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C

251,460

Mississippi Total

20,135
Total Customers Restored

70,933
Total Customer Outages

779,067
Arkansas Total

Restoration Progress

• In terms of power outages, Hurricane Gustav was the second worst in Entergy’s 95-year history, peaking at about 850,000 early Tuesday – the overwhelming majority of them in Louisiana. That easily bypassed the 800,000 outages in Hurricane Rita in 2005. As of 11 a.m. CDT, total outages had receded to about 826,000, with power restored to 24,000 customers. The only larger number of Entergy outages was 1.1 million in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, which has been described as one of the worst natural disasters in American history.

• The largest numbers of Gustav outages are being reported in Jefferson, Orleans, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Tangipahoa, Lafourche, Terrebonne, Ascension, Plaquemines, Livingston, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Bernard, Assumption and St. Landry parishes in Louisiana and Adams County in Mississippi.

• It is not yet possible to estimate when electricity will be restored to specific locations. In some areas where the damage is the most extensive or where access is the most difficult, restoration could take several weeks.

• Bad weather from the storm continues in the Entergy system, impeding progress to restore service and assess damage. Early assessments indicate extensive damage to Entergy’s system in Louisiana.

• Entergy’s team of more than 10,000 restoration workers has begun safely restoring service as quickly as possible.

• Some workers continue traveling toward Entergy’s territory. Workers are responding from Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

• Entergy restoration organizers are assessing how to best to tie and synchronize this area back into the Entergy system. This will be a very delicate operation requiring close coordination between generation, transmission, distribution and other Entergy functions

• Entergy preparations began early last week, well in advance of Hurricane Gustav. Entergy is nationally recognized as a leader in the industry at restoring major damage safely and quickly.

Transmission System Severely Damaged

• Entergy’s transmission system has sustained extremely severe damage from Hurricane Gustav, damage that could make power restoration a difficult and slow process, especially in southeastern Louisiana.

• The transmission damage across the Entergy system includes 191 transmission lines, or about 40 percent of the transmission lines in the affected area. In addition, 210 substations, or 27 percent, are out of service in the area.

• Entergy’s preparations made in advance of the storm to protect its system contributed directly to the power that is still on in New Orleans. Without the planning to isolate some generators there, this transmission damage would have interrupted power everywhere in the New Orleans area. Entergy’s Waterford 1, Nine Mile Point and Little Gypsy plants are now supplying all the power available in this area.

• Thirteen of the 14 transmission lines serving the New Orleans metropolitan area are out of service due to the storm. This creates a situation where the New Orleans metropolitan area and a corridor along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge have become essentially an island, no longer electrically connected to the rest of the Entergy system and the electricity grid for the eastern United States. This “island” is south of Lake Pontchartrain and includes Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles and upper Plaquemines parishes, which are sometimes referred to as the “river” parishes.

• Transmission lines in the Baton Rouge area that are needed to tie the “island” back to the system are out of service due to storm damage there, which was particularly severe.

• Entergy is therefore continuing to carefully manage the restoration process in the affected area because adding more load could create an imbalance and trip the system, putting all the lights out.

• Part of the difficulty is that there are no transmission lines to the south of New Orleans area because of the Gulf of Mexico. Transmission lines to the north, east and west are out of service.

• Entergy’s first choice to relieve the islanding issue was to use its 500,000-volt transmission line, but that line is damaged at the substation and will take several days to repair. The alternate is to use several 230,000-volt lines to tie in the system. Several lines would be needed to assure the stability of the island and avoid an outage that would affect the entire region. Assessment continues and the time needed to repair the 230,000-volt lines could still take several days.

• Entergy has experienced extensive distribution system damage, as well. This damage will be repaired in parallel with the transmission repairs so distribution will be ready as soon as possible when the transmission system repairs are made.

• Entergy continues restoring service to emergency facilities in the affected area. Other restoration continues, but energizing of completed repairs will be delayed until the area can be tied back to the rest of the system. Continued bad weather also is preventing damage assessment by helicopter at this time.

Generation

• Entergy’s River Bend nuclear plant in St. Francisville, La., was taken out of service Monday afternoon to help keep the electricity transmission grid in balance due to reduced demand. Entergy’s other Louisiana nuclear plant – Waterford 3 at Taft near New Orleans – completed a controlled shutdown on Sunday night in anticipation of the heavy winds forecast for Monday morning.

• Entergy’s Waterford 3 Nuclear Plant near New Orleans completed a controlled shutdown on Sunday night in accordance with procedure at approximately 10:30 p.m. in anticipation of the heavy winds that were forecast for Monday morning.

• River Bend Nuclear Station was brought offline on Monday evening due to loss of demand caused by extensive outages in the region.

• Personnel at both plants are performing site assessments this morning and working closely with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine a timeline for restart.

• Bringing the plants online will be closely coordinated with utility company personnel to maintain the reliability of the power grid.

Customer Safety

Entergy reminds customers to remain safe and stay away from downed power lines and flooded areas. Do not walk in standing water and do not venture into areas of debris, since energized and dangerous power lines may not be visible. Call 800-9OUTAGE to report a power outage.


Viewing Entergy Outage Information Online

• Entergy’s View Outages system on Entergy.com is a popular destination for customers during power outages. Outage information normally displayed includes the number of customers affected and the estimated time service will be restored.

• It could take several days for Entergy personnel to assess the extent of damage caused by Hurricane Gustav and estimate the time needed to restore service. Until these assessments are made, the View Outages Web site will not display estimated restoration times and will be limited in the amount of accurate information it is able to deliver.