A lesson in socialism from Repugnantcans on PSC: Entergy consumers will foot the bill for its lack of storm preparation

A lot of people, especially Repugnantcans, get their drawers in a wad over the mere mention of the word socialism, equating it – incorrectly – with communism. The two terms are not interchangeable.

I suppose it’s okay to oppose socialism so long as you do not partake in police and fire protection, street construction and repair, garbage pickup, municipal and community water and gas systems, and a few other services that we take for granted – like Social Security and Medicare. (Speaking of which, if you’re so opposed to socialism, tell me what you did with your pandemic stimulus checks.)

But let’s take the concept a bit further and see how socialism can apply to big business, and I mean BIG business.

But first, let’s pretend for a moment that your home is destroyed by a storm or by fire and you find that you’re underinsured or worse, uninsured – as might be the case with rising water and you don’t have flood insurance, which is precisely what happened to thousands of people in the 2016 flood (yes, I was one of those).

Well, I shouldn’t be expected to have to foot the bill to rebuild my home, should I? I mean, my home was already paid for and I opted not to carry flood insurance because we were on high ground (we thought) and the area had never flooded. But surprise, someone forgot to tell Mother Nature.

But not to worry. Someone will take care of me and I won’t have to pay to rebuild, right?

Well, not quite. At the tender age of 73, I found myself with a brand-new home mortgage on a home I’d already paid for once. Damn! Someone should’ve taken care of my problems that I failed to anticipate.

You see, it just doesn’t work that way.

Unless you’re a big utility company like Entergy.

Entergy, which serves about 1.1 million customers in 58 Louisiana parishes, including most of south Louisiana, was granted a rate increase by the Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC) last year to help the company pay for a $3.2 billion restoration plan for Entergy.

That was to help Entergy recover from the devastation of Hurricane Ida back in 2021 and the rate increase came to a surcharge of about $25 per month for the average Louisiana Entergy customer. Democrat Foster Campbell cast the lone negative vote on the rate increase.

At the time PSC members demanded to know if Entergy planned to use any of its own money to help cover the cost of hurricane damages and Entergy CEO Leo Denault politely said no, but thanks for asking.

That rate increase came on the heels of Entergy’s bestowing an additional $4 million in compensation for Denault, bringing his salary to $16 million per year. It also followed the $1.2 billion in DIVIDENDS the company paid to its shareholders.

Fast forward to today (Jan. 19). The PSC approved Entergy’s plan to make its customers in Louisiana pony up another $1.4 BILLION to finance improvements to its grid and to repair hurricane damage.

Wait. What? Entergy had the nerve to come back and ask for even more help from its customers to pay for the company’s reluctance to place its service lines underground years ago as a means of avoiding hurricane damage?

What about that taco stand down the street? The storm blew the structure apart so shouldn’t customers pay to rebuild? No? I don’t understand. What about all those folks whose vehicles were paid for and they dropped their collision coverage because of Louisiana’s high insurance premiums? Shouldn’t someone pay to get them another car or truck?

But Entergy…I mean, as a customer of Entergy, I now am expected to…

Well, you get the picture. Entergy obviously failed to carry sufficient excess coverage to insure its loses from Ida so naturally, you and I will get the bill which will amount to about an additional $5.50 per month for the next 23 years. That’s on top of the previous bump of about $25 over 15 years.

But wait, Entergy didn’t come away completely off the hook, thank to the tenacious negotiations of Repugnantcan PSC member Craig Greene of Baton Rouge who this time held Entergy’s feet to the fire for a whopping $180 million concession by cutting that much from Entergy’s proposed rate increase. Let’s see, $180 million out of $1.4 billion…12.9 percent of the total, leaving consumers holding the bag for 87.1 percent of the cost.

Or, if you combine the two rate increases approved in the past year, you have Entergy chipping in $180 million out of a total $4.6 billion rate increase, or a more modest 3.9 percent with you pitching in the remaining 94.1 percent.

Not a bad deal for Entergy but consumer will need a big tube of KY for this one.

It also takes the edge off that REBATE Entergy has been ordered to pay its customers in Louisiana and Arkansas.

This time the rate hike was approved by a thin 3-2 vote along party lines. You see, that last increase may have cost one Republican member his job when Democrat Davante Lewis of Baton Rouge defeated Repugnantcan incumbent Lambert Boissiere last fall. Davante joined Campbell in voting against the latest increase.

So, there you have it, folks. The Repugnantcans voted in lock step in favor for what looks an awful lot like socialism to me to benefit Entergy and for rock solid capitalism for the consumers. Kinda brings a lump to your throat and a tear to your eye, doesn’t it?