"Power out, high voltage lines on the ground, weeks until electricity is restored in some places: The dismal state of power in Hurricane Ida's wake is a distressingly familiar scenario for Entergy Corp., Louisiana's largest electrical utility," reports ABCNews.

"The power company has grappled with other widespread outages after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike - not to mention Laura, Delta and Zeta - over the past decade and a half. Other Louisiana and Gulf Coast utilities have faced similar disasters, sometimes needing to rebuild entire networks. If anything, power restoration has [become] faster in recent decades."

Utility companies have long favored Republican political candidates who have insisted on the need for deregulation of our nation's utility grid. Unfortunately, what's been observed time and again with responses to Southern Storms is that "private sector innovation" in the energy industry appears to consist of cutting back on systems maintenance, and eliminating fail-safe measures that are meant to help keep the power on, and reduce downtime in the event of an outage.

"Critics question the enormity of the outage from Hurricane Ida and why it is still so widespread nearly a week after the storm slammed into the state with 150 mph (241 kph) winds. The concerns are most acute in the New Orleans area. All eight of the transmission lines that link a region of more than 900,000 people to power from the outside world failed during Ida - even though storm damage in the area was less severe than to the south and west. As of Friday, Entergy had restored three of the lines."

"Regulators could force Entergy to further toughen its grid, lessening future risks from the more frequent and severe storms wrought by climate change. Florida, for example, now requires every privately owned utility to submit an annual plan for making the electrical system more resistant to outages."

"Shouldering upgrade costs could burden customers who are still paying for old repairs. Louisiana Public Service Commission documents show Entergy customers outside the city of New Orleans have been charged nearly $2 billion to rebuild lines and refill storm damage reserve funds since 2005."

Leo P. Denault, the Chief Executive Officer of Entergy, is ranked as the 41st highest paid CEO in the United States, and received total compensation in 2020 of over $11.7 Million US Dollars, and there are four other Entergy executives with compensation that exceeds $3 Million per year. Naturally people are starting to wonder why these executives are making such huge salaries when their company is on the brink of failure, and they may take months to fully recover from Ida, and are asking politicians in the state of Louisiana for the ability to pass rate increases on their customers.