Search
Insights > Entergy grid remains resilient through historic cold weather peak usage
Entergy grid remains resilient through historic cold weather peak usage
02/06/2025
During the week of Jan. 19, an arctic blast brought record-breaking low temperatures and historic snowfall to the South. This once-in-a-lifetime winter storm blanketed a large swath of our service area, bringing up to a foot of snow in the New Orleans French Quarter and covering Mississippi’s beaches, as well. Throughout the cold weather, Entergy’s grid recorded peak electricity usage, remaining reliable while lineworkers braved difficult conditions to restore power following outages caused by snow, ice, sleet and freezing temperatures.
Meeting the demands of historic electricity usage during arctic blast
Entergy customers used more electricity during the Jan. winter storm than ever before in cold-weather months, surpassing the peak winter usage recorded in the storms of Jan. 2024. Entergy Arkansas, Louisiana, New Orleans and Texas service territories all recorded new high peak usage records, while Entergy Mississippi neared its record of peak usage.
As cold weather drove increased energy usage, Entergy closely monitored our equipment and weather conditions, taking appropriate steps to ensure reliable delivery of power to our customers. This included working closely with MISO, the electric grid operator for the central United States, to monitor grid conditions and prepare generators accordingly. Despite the record-breaking power usage, Entergy’s fleet maintained production margins and provided enough generation to meet the energy load throughout the storm.
Storm ready: responding to winter weather events
While the January weather event did cause localized outages, crews quickly and safely restored power to just over 13,000 who lost service across Entergy’s service territory throughout the three day-event while navigating freezing temperatures, icy roads and hazardous working conditions.
The winter storm most heavily impacted Louisiana, bringing unique challenges like downed tree limbs and the strain of cold-load pickup, an increase in energy demand as power is restored to areas impacted by extreme cold. Despite these challenges, the company’s systems and teams proved resilient, minimizing the impact on customers across the state. Just two weeks prior, Entergy Arkansas swiftly restored power to its customers during a winter storm with snow accumulations of nearly 15 inches in some areas and more than a quarter-inch of ice in others according to the National Weather Service.
Entergy stays storm ready with extensive winter weather readiness measures and remains prepared to respond to the next weather event.
Resources for customers
Customers can learn more about bill management and assistance options following winter weather.
Whether customers have questions about their bill, need more time to pay or are looking for assistance, our one-stop shop connects them to available programs and services at BillToolkit.entergy.com.
