“So yeah, there’s a lot of wildlife activity around here,” Bulling laughed. “And as spring gets sprung, I guess there’ll be a lot more animal activity.”
NEW ORLEANS — State officials are pushing for a closer look at New Orleans' electrical grid after Entergy blamed a major power outage on an animal for the second time in a week.
In the middle of a mild afternoon Friday, the lights went out for about forty minutes for about four thousand customers in the Lakeview, Lake Terrace and Lake Vista areas of New Orleans.
Entergy blamed the issue on a squirrel entering a substation.
Jim Bulling said, "We look here and we can see the squirrels." Bulling lives across the street from Substation C in the West End. Every morning from his breakfast table, he watches a swarm of squirrels along the power lines in front of his house, near the substation.
He also pointed to several large bird nests inside the equipment at the substation.
"So yeah, there's a lot of wildlife activities here," laughed Bulling. "And as spring comes on, I think there will be a lot more animal activity."
But this is the second time this week that an animal has been held responsible for major damage. Entergi said a bird was to blame for leaving 10,000 people in the dark on Wednesday.
It took a whole day to resolve this matter. Entergy blamed a bird and a balloon for the blackout in 2021, and a bird for the outage in 2020.
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Craig Green says the city's grid needs a closer look.
In a statement to Eyewitness News Friday, he called on his own agency to hire private engineers and get answers.
Green wrote,
"The public's inability to get sensible answers as to why extended power outages are occurring is the reason why LPSCs need to hire independent engineers. At least then state regulators can have answers to the questions customers are asking." whether the grid is in good condition or whether the grid is properly maintained.”
Back in 2019, the city council fined Entergy $1 million for repeated outages. That case is still going on in the court. The lights still go out.
"I'm not sure what to think. I'm hoping they'll be able to fix the situation," said Lakeview resident Anthony Cuccia, whose power came out on Friday.
For now, the onus is on Entergy as the state pushes for more oversight.