A vision for Louisiana
Nick Laborde has a plan for our energy future
The lights need to stay on — and not cost more than a car note to do so.
It’s time to move Louisiana forward and hold utilities accountable.
We’ll do it by focusing on three things.
Reform.
Hold utilities accountable through performance-based regulations (PBRs). Entergy is a massive monopoly that has no desire to benefit you, the ratepayer — the Public Service Commission exists to keep them in check. It’s the commission’s responsibility to ensure utility companies don’t take advantage of ratepayers.
With PBRs, we can make them adopt solutions that bolster our grid, diversify how we generate our power, and better set us up for the future.
Electricity is a basic necessity that we all use, and it’s time to demand better. The status quo means they reap record profits while your light bill can cost more than a car note, and that’s just not right.
PBRs incentivize utilities to work in ratepayers’ best interests, getting them to invest in:
Maintenance
Renewables
Energy conservation
Other areas of reform I’m interested in are bringing back 1:1 net metering across the state, and lowering the cost of prison phone calls.
Going further, I’ll require utilities regulated by the PSC to publicly submit their action plans on how they’ll mitigate damage from future hurricanes and natural disaster events — and specifically, how they’ll plan to restore service in the event of outages.
I’ll also push for a system of improved credits/reimbursements to customers whose service goes out during our now increasingly frequent outages. This way, you will no longer have to take time out of your day to pursue your electric company for disruptions in service when other stressful events are occurring.
Finally, I’ll improve communication between utilities and you, the ratepayer. For instance, at my house in 2021, I went outside one day to find that a “smart meter” had been installed that drastically raised my bill — under my service at the PSC, I’ll make sure these companies are required to give a bigger heads-up before making any changes to your utility service.
Accountability.
Make Entergy and other utilities pay more. I’ll require utilities to absorb more of the costs of new projects, rather than using them as an opportunity to price gouge residents. For example, in April 2024, the PSC approved a $1.9 billion plan for Entergy to improve the grid. However, Entergy only put up $300 million — while we the ratepayers will shoulder the burden of the remaining $1.6 billion.
For perspective, in the fourth quarter of 2023 alone, Entergy reported nearly $1 billion in earnings. The era of Entergy subsidizing their costs while price gouging ratepayers has to end.
Require utilities to commit to greater investment in renewables, and also make them provide a detailed plan and timeline to the public for making those investments happen. Solar and wind energy become cheaper by the day, and diversifying our power generation mix can create a more stable grid.
I don’t — and won’t — take donations from the utilities that the commission regulates.
Sustainability.
Invest in renewable energy to create a broader mix of power generation. Entergy is heavily reliant on natural gas to create electricity, making bills very susceptible to price fluctuations. By diversifying where our power comes from, we drive down costs for ratepayers while also creating a more reliable grid. New battery technology is making renewables more stable and capable of providing strong, stable base load to the grid.
We can also:
Take advantage of our gulf coast to drive investment in offshore wind where it makes sense.
Make solar energy adoption easier for both businesses and residences.
Ensure users have simple and fair access to credits for adoption of clean energy solutions like home solar panel installation.
Bolster the existing grid so that the lights stay on by making utilities repair their aging infrastructure, and requiring them to provide greater transparency on how and when they are making changes to the grid.
Let’s not limit ourselves by putting all of our eggs in one basket when it comes to a vital necessity.
