Earns 12th Consecutive Edison Electric Institute Award

Little Rock, Ark. – Entergy Corporation has won the Edison Electric Institute’s Emergency Recovery Award for outstanding efforts in restoring power following a destructive ice storm last year in Arkansas.

EEI’s “Emergency Recovery Award” is presented annually to recognize outstanding efforts in restoring electric service that has been disrupted by severe weather conditions or other natural events. Winners are chosen by a panel of judges following a national nomination process.

The 2009 ice storm was the most destructive ice storm in Arkansas in modern history, affecting 111,881 Entergy Arkansas, Inc. customers. Although the number of customers affected was not as great as the two back-to-back ice storms of December 2000, the damage was greater. The storm, which hit the northern counties of Arkansas on January 28, 2009, heavily damaged Entergy Arkansas’s electric infrastructure, including 71 transmission-line section outages that affected 64 substations and destroyed 274 transmission structures. Damage to the distribution system included 4,883 poles, 712 transformers and 4,253 cross arms damaged or destroyed.

In comparison, the dual ice storms of 2000 had 4,100 utility poles down or severely damaged and 526 transformers damaged.

Entergy Arkansas brought in more than 3,500 linemen, field support personnel and tree trimmers and within 10 days after the storm struck was able to restore more than 90 percent of the customers affected.

“I am extremely proud of all the dedicated people at Entergy Arkansas, our sister companies in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas and utilities and contracting companies around the country who provided so much support during this grueling effort,” said Hugh McDonald, president and chief executive officer, Entergy Arkansas, Inc. “I am equally grateful to our customers across northern Arkansas for their unwavering support and patience during trying times.”

Entergy is the only company to be honored every year since the EEI Emergency Response Awards were first presented in 1998.

“Entergy is honored to receive this award from EEI recognizing our efforts to restore service to our customers,” said Randy Helmick, Entergy’s “storm boss” and vice president of energy delivery. “I am extremely proud of the way our team demonstrated our creed that safety is a core value while successfully restoring service to our Arkansas customers.

“Entergy had restoration crews of over 3,500 workers from 15 states overcome dangerous conditions to promptly restore service while managing through the limited accessibility to the mountainous and rural areas affected. They compiled 991,000 man-hours of work in their efforts.”

Brady Aldy, director of operations for Entergy Arkansas, added that “the most important thing is our workers took the time to do it right and remembered that safety is the most important aspect of any restoration. It proved to be extremely valuable in ensuring off-system crews understood and adhered to our processes.

“Entergy’s emergency preparedness plan staved off what could have been a vastly more difficult restoration effort,” said EEI President Tom Kuhn. “Their comprehensive approach to reversing infrastructure damage was a great example of how the entire electric power industry responds following such an event.”

The “Emergency Recovery Award” and the “Emergency Assistance Award” are presented annually by EEI to U.S. and foreign-based member companies to recognize outstanding efforts in restoring electric service that has been disrupted by severe weather conditions or natural events. The Recovery Award recognizes exceptional efforts in restoring electric service by a company in its service territory. Winners of the award were chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process, and awards were presented yesterday during EEI’s Spring CEO meetings.

Entergy Arkansas serves 687,000 customers in 63 counties. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

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