Entergy Profile

http://www.entergy.com/   Territory: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas Headquarters:  New Orleans, LA CEO, Chairman:  J. Wayne Leonard Employees:  14,700 Ownership: Publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (ETR)   2008 Operating Revenues: $13 billion (year ended Dec. 31, 2008)   Divisions / Subsidiaries Utilities ·  Entergy Arkansas, Inc. ·  Entergy Gulf States Louisiana ·  Entergy Louisiana, LLC ·  Entergy Mississippi, Inc. ·  Entergy New Orleans, Inc. ·  Entergy Texas, Inc.   Other divisions ·  System Energy Resources, Inc., sells wholesale power ·  Entergy Nuclear, operates plants in the South and Northeast ·  Entergy Solutions Ltd., retail electricity provider ·  Entergy Solutions District Cooling, LP ·  Entergy Thermal, LLC   Customers ·  2.7 million electric ·  184,000 natural gas   Assets ·  15,500 miles of transmission lines ·  1,550 transmission substations ·  30,000 MW generating capacity   Read more New Orleans Business News: Entergy CEO says coal is the answer to global warming

Entergy is a New Orleans-based company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail electric distribution. Its utilities serve the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas.

Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity. Entergy Arkansas relies primarily on coal and nuclear generation. Entergy Louisiana and Entergy Gulf States rely more heavily on oil- and natural gas-fired generation.

The parent company began pursuing a national nuclear growth strategy in 1998 by buying nuclear energy plants that no one wanted. Today Entergy is the largest nuclear operator in the Northeast and the second-largest in the nation, operating 12 units. Its plants in the South mostly serve its own utilities, but it owns and operates facilities in Northeast that generate electricity for the wholesale market.

In 2008, for the second year in a row, Entergy was named to the Forbes list of America’s Most Trustworthy Companies

With service territories in the path of one devastating hurricane after another in recent years, the company has faced incredible challenges just keeping the power on in homes and businesses. The company’s financial situation is not good following Katrina.

Entergy expects to have nearly $3 billion of liquidity available at the end of 2009. One of the top priorities for the utilities in 2009 will be storm recovery, with regulatory proceedings targeted to be completed around year-end and recovery expected through a securitization process.

Smart Grid

Entergy has been a leader and innovator in smart energy to some extent before it became fashionable and takes a strong stand on the issue of climate change. Its service area is particularly vulnerable to the physical risks climate change poses – more frequent and intense hurricanes, rising sea levels and loss of wetlands.

The company completed a high-level Smart Grid roadmap in 2008. It has AMI initiatives underway in two states and is developing a strategy and implementation plan for all of its jurisdictions.  

Renewables

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In May 2009, Entergy Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Wayne Leonard told shareholders that the only viable solution to climate change is retrofitting existing coal plants with technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions. He argued that expanding the grid to support wind power is not economical and that replacing coal plants with other non-emitting technologies would be much costlier than policymakers realize. He also emphasized that any climate change solution must include China.

For vendors only …

Entergy is characterized as a good client, one that is fair and reasonable, but one that moves slowly. Though Katrina took a toll on company finances,  this is not a company that is afraid to push the envelope just because times are bad.