[BR Today]

I am an Entergy employee. I am very proud of the work that our employees did to restore electric service in Louisiana (and Texas and Mississippi) after Katrina and Rita. They were recognized by several national entities for their outstanding performance. At end of the day, this issue addressed in this poll is a legal question. The PSC was legally required to permit Entergy to recover its storm restoration costs. Therefore, when one asks whether the PSC should have done so, one is really asking whether the PSC should have followed the law. One point that hasn't been brought out in the posts is that the PSC hired outside lawyers and consultants to review all of the charges that made up Entergy's request. The AARP participated in the case, along with many large industrial customers, all of whom had the right to challenge the amount of recovery. After more than a year and a half of discovery, depositions, and hearings, a stipulation was filed in the record that confirmed the amounts to which the utilities were entitled. An administrative law judge certified those amounts to the PSC. The PSC approved the judge's findings.

Excellent post, excellent information. I'm very glad that (somehow) Entergy employees have found this discussion and chimed in. You are correct in the point you made about there being so many questions unanswered. The talk shows that have been on the air have done a good job answering as many questions as they could, given the information at hand, but with employees on the inside like you giving us the play by play, I think there will be a much better understanding of how this unfolded. I personally was not aware that this went through so much discovery and depositions. Of course I didn't think the number was just one that Entergy dreamed up, so I figured there was a good bit of research involved.

Best of luck to you and Entergy in the future.