As Louisiana settles into its sizzling summer season season, eating places like mine welcome a brand new inflow of consumers. We see households searching for a break from the warmth and diners wanting to take pleasure in our pool and discover the most recent additions to Misplaced Coyote’s menu. 

However over Memorial Day weekend, every part got here to a sudden cease. An influence outage left 1000’s of properties and companies in New Orleans at midnight.  For companies like mine, it meant a pause on meals preparation, no technique to maintain clients cool, and an lack of ability to course of digital funds. 

Misplaced Coyote was on observe for its first record-profit day when the outage introduced all of it to a standstill.

The truth is that this energy outage wasn’t an unlucky coincidence, however a longstanding downside. Our reliance on risky power-generation sources and years of delays in upgrading an outdated transmission grid has created a system the place outages on sunny days will turn into much more frequent. 

Right here’s what occurred on Memorial Day: A number of main energy crops went offline simply as record-high temperatures in New Orleans despatched vitality demand hovering. Although different areas had further energy, Louisiana couldn’t import it.

Why? As a result of our state’s vitality grid — a part of the MISO South community — isn’t very properly related to the broader MISO system. That lack of connectivity left New Orleans stranded throughout its time of want. When a plant goes offline in South Louisiana, we will’t simply pull in energy from different elements of Louisiana or from different states, regardless that it’s accessible.

Different elements of the MISO grid have invested in long-term transmission upgrades to forestall precisely this type of disaster — however not Louisiana. Regulators haven’t acted — and because of this, companies like mine and my neighbors are left to take care of the results of an outdated grid and a regulatory system that hasn’t stored up.

Our prices enhance when utilities don’t plan

It’s not simply in regards to the lights going out. Prices enhance when utilities like Entergy scramble to purchase costly emergency energy. 

The businesses that did not plan forward aren’t those footing the invoice. We pay, by way of gasoline price changes and better utility payments.

Entergy by no means misses a beat relating to accumulating charges or shutting off energy over a missed cost. However relating to its most elementary accountability of retaining the lights on and companies open, we’re those left paying the worth.

With summer season temperatures persevering with to rise, native companies can’t afford to be left at midnight once more. Every outage makes it even more durable for our enterprise neighborhood to recuperate and develop.

The excellent news is the options can be found. Lengthy-term regional transmission planning is already working in different states to decrease prices and enhance reliability.

Summer season temperatures are solely going to maintain rising. We want a stronger, smarter, extra related grid earlier than the subsequent heatwave pushes us previous the breaking level. It’s time for the Louisiana Public Service Fee and the New Orleans Metropolis Council to step up.

Colin Kennedy owns and operates the Misplaced Coyote Restaurant and Bar in New Orleans.

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