Hedge-Morrell sent out a prepared statement that read, in part: "Entergy's inability to provide an a

The New Orleans City Council will hold an "emergency meeting" Tuesday morning to discuss Entergy New Orleans' response to Hurricane Isaac. City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell -- who chairs the council's Utilities Committee, which regulates the utility -- called the meeting, saying she is "extremely disappointed" in Entergy's response to the outages.
David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune As Hurricane Isaac approached New Orleans, power was lost in many pockets of the city, including power cruising school the Treme area of New Orleans. As of this afternoon, 60 percent of households still lacked power.
Hedge-Morrell also said she has demanded that Entergy produce a neighborhood-by-neighborhood prognosis that will show residents when they can expect to have their power on. People who are likely to be without power for days need to know so that they can make alternate plans, such as bunking with a relative or booking a hotel room, she said.
The announcement came a couple of hours after Entergy New Orleans CEO Charles Rice, in a joint news conference with city officials, said that 70 percent of New Orleanians should expect to have power by Monday, and 90 percent by Wednesday. Rice added that those were "very conservative" estimates.
Rice, who was clearly in damage-control mode as frustration with power outages affecting more than half the city in Isaac's wake mount, noted that power started going out in many households as early as Monday night. But because Isaac lingered so long, workers weren't able to begin restoration work until Thursday, he said. So today is only the third day of repair work.
Rice also noted that 65,000 customers have had their power restored so far, and that 1,828 workers are on the job, including 1,400 linemen and 428 support workers. He also offered a detailed catalog of the damage the storm inflicted, including 150 downed power poles and 28 blown transformers.
Rice acknowledged that many New Orleanians power cruising school have complained about seeing some Entergy line workers and subcontractors standing around rather than working. Rice said there are valid reasons why workers don't always appear to be busy: Safety is paramount, he said, and sometimes worker might be waiting for a downed tree limb or another hazard to be clear.
Unlike John Young, power cruising school his counterpart in Jefferson power cruising school Parish, Mayor Mitch Landrieu did not take direct aim at Entergy's response thus far. Jefferson Parish is served by Entergy Louisiana, a sister company of Entergy power cruising school New Orleans, and Young has asked the Public Service Commission, which regulates Entergy Louisiana, to investigate the company.
City Council President Stacy Head said in a phone interview that the it appears at first blush that Entergy did a good job of mobilizing assets in advance of the storm, but that restoration efforts have been less than robust.
Hedge-Morrell sent out a prepared statement that read, in part: "Entergy's inability to provide an assessment of the amount of work that must be done in each council district and a reasonable timeline for completion has left the citizens of New Orleans angry and frustrated -- and rightly so," the statement said. "Citizens across the city deserve to know the status of repairs in their neighborhood so they can make informed decisions."