In many areas power was back on weeks before the residents were allowed to return. In the flood zones it is slower to return. In many areas meters were pulled and you need to complete an inspection for service to be restored. As you might expect this is another nightmare as the Safety and Permits Dept is swamped and unresponsive. The hardest hit areas may take six months to restore. Entire substations were demolished, underground facilities reduced to mush. Electricians and Inspectors are in short supply.

Bills are interesting as many have discovered. Estimated meter readings were used and high fuel adustments caused many to have higher bills during the evacuation than normal.

Entergy New Orleans declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy after they  received word in November that the feds will NOT bail them out like they bailed out ConEd after 911. The federal logic behind this decision is flawed and unfair to the citizens of New Orleans. It will have no material impact on Entergy as they will collect their money regardless.

Katrina's losses in the New Orleans area swamped the utility's storm reserve by more than an order of magnitude. Entergy NO held $35 million ( confirm?) in storm reserves v.s. $398 million in damages and $320 million in lost revenues. ENO has included in its lastest rate filing a $5.85 line item for ten years to build up a $150 million storm reserve. Entergy has estimated that each New Orleans customer will have to pay $8,943 to restore the city's energy and gas system. Much of Entergy New Orleans' damage came not from the forseeable and statistically predictable storm damage, but from the man made flooding disaster for which the Corps of Engineers accepted responsibility.  The other power companies in the area cannot make this same claim.

In July a story is emerging that Mississippi will be able to use some of its CDBG money to bail out Entergy Mississippi and Miss Power Co. In August an application by Mississippi to use $360 million of CDBG funds for the power companies is expected to receive HUD approval.

Finally in October 2006 the LRA decided to award Entergy $200 million in grants. They believe this amount will be sufficient to avoid rate increases and allow the company to emerge from bankruptcy.