Laura's utility damage could top $1 billion

Repairing and replacing the electricity infrastructure Hurricane Laura wrecked could cost between $1.5 billion and $1.7 billion, Entergy estimates.
Entergy Louisiana incurred the bulk of the cost, estimated to be between $1.25 billion and $1.4 billion. The preliminary estimate for Entergy Texas is between $230 million and $260 million.
Entergy’s ratepayers potentially could shoulder the cost. Gov. John Bel Edwards has requested federal help to pay for restoration, which could come in the form of Community Development Block Grants.
Hurricane Laura restoration was the first large-scale disaster response that required Entergy to implement COVID-19 safety protocols, the company says. Increased costs associated with those safety measures, including lodging and personal protective equipment, are included in the preliminary estimate.
“Entergy Louisiana and Entergy Texas are considering all available avenues to recover storm-related costs from Hurricane Laura in a way that will minimize the effects on customers, including accessing funded storm escrows and securitization,” the company said in a prepared statement.
“Due to the national importance of the refineries, petrochemical and other essential industries that the utility companies serve on the Gulf Coast, Entergy also is exploring opportunities for federal assistance in the restoration and potential hardening of the infrastructure in this area.”
As of Thursday morning, about 69 percent of the electricity customers in Cameron Parish, in the northwestern corner of Louisiana, still did not have power almost a month after Hurricane Laura made landfall on Aug. 27, according to the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
In Calcasieu Parish, just north of Cameron, the percentage was 5.6 percent, the LPSC says.
There were 11,631 homes and businesses without power statewide, compared to more than 600,000 in the immediate aftermath of the storm.