The month of June has seen a striking heat wave, with temperatures reaching the high 90s in Louisiana. The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings over several days for New Orleans. Officials urged residents to stay indoors to avoid the severe health effects of prolonged heat exposure.

But staying inside offered little relief for some customers of Louisiana’s largest electrical utility. These consumers have been left without power and air-conditioning, some for days, when they tried to set up new service, change addresses, or change the name on their accounts. They were asked to wait for a call from the verification department as heat indexes crept near 120 degrees.

The process of verifying accounts should be relatively quick. But delays in Louisiana appear to have left some Entergy customers without power for days or longer, according to interviews with Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis, as well as an interview with one affected customer and recent complaints posted publicly online. (Two Verite employees also experienced extended outages this month as they waited on account verification).

[Pretty unforgiveable in this day and age. ~ Beege]