Though Entergy CEO Charles Rice said that the company’s response to Hurricane Isaac was “outstanding,” City Council members criticized Entergy for certain failures and shortcomings at their meeting on Sept. 4.

City Council members said constituents complained about a lack of communication from Entergy, the prolonged loss of power and the city’s out-of-date infrastructure.

The Council presented several

changes that Entergy could make in the future that would address concerns, including assessing the quality of the wood used in utility poles and a possible texting system or other alternative to a website for customers to get information during the storm.

During the 54 hours that Hurricane Isaac blew through the city, 3,705,000 residents and 1,600,000 homes lost power. Even though the first bucket truck hit the streets to begin repairs mid-morning on Thursday, Aug. 30, many New Orleans residents remained without power for an

additional five days.

“It seems to the people I’ve been

talking to over the last number of days, our residents in District A, that the number of outages was high and that the duration of the outages was long,” said Councilmember for the Loyola University area Susan Guidry.

In defense of Entergy, Melonie Hall, director of customer service for Entergy New Orleans, reported that power took longer to restore because not as many people evacuated for Isaac as in previous storms like Gustav.

After the storm, customers

were unable to find out when their neighborhoods would regain power. Other customers who called to inquire about an estimated time they would regain power were told that their power was already on, even though it was not.

“I called Entergy to find out when my power would turn on and they didn’t have an estimation of when my neighborhood would have power, only that it would be before Sept. 6,” said Cooper Runzel, English senior.

As a result of poor communication, people were

unable to make adequate plans and arrangements for the time after the storm.

“This is a community that is used to this type of adversity and can make do. We can make do much better when we have that type of communication at the basic neighborhood level,” said Councilmember Kristin Gisleson Palmer from District C.

“We recognize communication is a problem,” Rice responded.

Mary Jameson can be reached at [email protected]