Superpower Mississippi: Entergy Mississippi’s bold plan to cut power outages in half at less cost to customers

• Haley Fisackerly says Entergy will spend 50% more on grid improvements, to achieve a 50% reduction in power outages, all at 0% cost to customers.

Electricity is a necessity, not a luxury. And no one gets up each morning and puts in an order for your daily power supply. You expect Entergy Mississippi to make it available when you need it – and with rare exceptions, it is. 

But we know there’s more we can do. That’s why we’re making the largest and most comprehensive upgrades to the power grid in Entergy Mississippi’s 100-year history. Our goal is to cut future power outages in half. And we’re going to invest 50% more in grid improvements to reach that goal without any new costs to customers – thanks in part to a new high-tech partner. 

Our Superpower Mississippi plan is a $1 billion, five-year effort that will provide more and better power for everyone. We’ll ask the Mississippi Public Service Commission for approval to increase total spending on grid improvements by 50%, or $300 million, to an already $600 million plan. The additional dollars are a direct benefit of the recent arrival of several large companies to Mississippi – especially Amazon’s new data centers. Because of the power-intensive nature of their operations, their large contributions to the power grid everyone shares is going to provide bill savings for all of our half a million Mississippi customers.

Superpower Mississippi will use satellite images to target our tree trimming and helicopter-based aerial saws to complete tree trimming along power lines in far less time than with ground-based machinery. This is important because the historic 2023 drought is still with us, as I’m sure you can see all around: dead trees or limbs looming dangerously close to power lines that could fall in a strong wind or even on a blue-sky day.

We’re replacing many old power poles with new materials designed to withstand extreme weather conditions. This is important given the fact that meteorologists tell us Mississippi is now the center of a new “tornado alley” and more prone than ever to severe weather. These new, stronger poles can dramatically help reduce outages during storms.

We will also expand the use of smart devices and real-time monitoring systems. We’re exploring the use of artificial intelligence to predict when a piece of equipment might fail so we can replace it before anything goes wrong and exploring adding more self-healing networks that automatically identify electrical faults and re-route power.

And, we know that power should be just as affordable as it is reliable. We’re always aware that at least 20% of Entergy customers live at or below the poverty line. In addition, all of us are adjusting to the higher cost of nearly everything over the past few years. At Entergy Mississippi, everything we buy on behalf of customers – transformers, poles, wires, breakers and building materials– has increased in cost. Whatever we can do to make equipment last longer and resist damage is valuable. We’re determined to continue to keep our rates  – which are already 20% below the national average – among the lowest in the nation.

As always, we’re doing this work in close collaboration with Mississippi’s leaders. We appreciate Governor Reeves and the Mississippi Legislature’s foresight to pass legislation that is bringing large customers like Amazon to our state. We’re also grateful for the Mississippi Public Service Commission continuing to ensure benefits for customers.

In short: Entergy will spend 50% more on grid improvements, to achieve a 50% reduction in power outages, all at 0% cost to customers – that’s a Mississippi success story.

So, stay on the lookout for Superpower Mississippi signs in your community marking new projects in your area to reduce outages. As always, much of this work will be carried out by the greatest, most professional lineworkers in the country who we are proud to call our own. In fact, most of our more than 2,500 Mississippi employees are Entergy customers, too, and they’re excited about this new effort for their home state.

Mississippi’s future is certainly bright, and thanks to investments like Superpower Mississippi, it’s going to be even brighter.