Entergy planned outages
Entergy executed several planned outages and has several outages scheduled to work on projects in their reliability improvement process.
Entergy Texas Customer Service Manager Melissa Bochat said the reliability improvement process includes upgrading equipment such as new and stronger poles and smarter devices to limit the duration of outages, so Entergy is able to provide better, more reliable service in the future.
“You’ll see a number of these are replacing older poles and replacing switch gear,” explained Bochat. “Switch gear allows us to better route the power around problem areas in the future to help restore more customers sooner. If you think about how you might exit off the interstate to get around an accident – similar concept on the electric grid.”
“We are also working to add reclosers, which are essentially circuit breakers that temporarily open a line when momentary problems occur, such as if an animal or tree branch falls on the line,” said Bochat.
Given the nature of some of the work, Entergy must use planned outages to ensure crews are able to safely incorporate the upgrades. Sometimes planned outages may also need to be rescheduled due to inclement weather and other factors.
Planned outages – (dates, times and areas are approximate and subject to change)
Saturday, March 26 – 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Approximately 590 customers in downtown Navasota will be affected. This project is to replace 30 poles around town, along with the wire, as well as adding a recloser.
Areas affected will include Julia Street to north of Washington Street and east of La Salle. Streets are Austin, Brosig, Chinski, Cleveland Ave, E. Blackshear, E. Dickson, E. Hill, E. Washington, Felder, Frazier, Horlock, Horizon, Julia, Jewett, Kettler, Laredo, Lewell, McNair, Millican, Jones, N. Lasalle, Neal, Piedmont, Setting Way, Smith, Sunset Trail, Victoria, Water and White.
Saturday, April 9 – 2 p.m. until 9 p.m.
The south side of town from south of Farm-to-Market Road 379 to Texas State Highway 6 toward Hempstead will be affected. This project is re placing poles and adding associated switches to allow faster restoration if there is an outage down the road.
How customers can stay updated
Whether it is planned or unplanned outages, customers are able to sign up for text alerts through Entergy to stay informed. For planned outages, Entergy tries to proactively reach out to customers to let them know before the schedule outage – and if the outage is rescheduled. Customers can register at myAccount online at myentergy.com and select to receive notifications on their personal preference by text, email, or call.
Bochat stated there is never a good time to be without power and they apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate everyone’s support.