
For the last few nights Cleco, WSTE Cooperative, and Entergy, as well as numerous local elected officials, have asked local citizens to reduce usage from 5:00pm -10:00pm (peak hours) in an effort to prevent forced rolling outages.
The entire State of Louisiana and every electric utility company’s consumers are being asked to curtail usage to relieve the demand. If they can not voluntarily achieve the critical reductions necessary in this emergency, a forced outage would be the next step. They say they will not be able to tell us where until they are informed. Once the outage occurs it usually takes about an hour or two to slowly bring each area back up. To prevent forced outages people were asked to lower your thermostat to at least 68 degrees or lower. Delay household chores such as laundry and running the dishwasher. Unplug unnecessary appliances. And close blinds and shades on windows.