OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

New Orleans City Council Meeting Summary - December 10, 2025

City Council — Wednesday, December 10, 2025
BodyNew Orleans, Louisiana
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, December 10, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 40:10

Transcript — Verbatim
0:42

Ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna get started.

0:44

Please take your seats.

0:45

Please take your seats.

0:48

Let me know when you're ready, Aaron.

0:50

Ready when you are council member.

0:52

All right, let's do roll call.

0:54

Councilmember Thomas present.

0:55

Councilmember Morel present.

0:57

Councilmember Moreno present.

0:59

Councilmember Harris present.

1:00

We have a quorum.

1:01

Thank you.

1:02

First up, we have the approval of the minutes from September 9th joint committee meeting.

1:06

I will move to adopt.

1:10

Second by Chairman Moreno.

1:14

All in favor say aye.

1:15

Four years, no nays.

1:17

It is adopted.

1:20

Next we have a presentation by Delta Utilities.

1:46

Thank you.

1:57

Good morning.

2:00

Good morning, Council members.

2:02

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and to provide an update on our progress transitioning from enter Gollowing Acquisition of the Natural Gas Assets here in New Orleans.

2:16

So with respect to our service, we've had a seamless transition.

2:20

We successfully transferred natural gas service from entergy beginning July 1 without any disruption to customers.

2:27

And our goal internally was to ensure continuity and reliability during that critical transition period.

2:34

And we believe we've been very successful.

2:37

In only five months, with if we compare where we were on a customer interaction basis to the toe, we have registered 58% of our customers.

3:09

We've achieved 100% retention of the skilled workforce that uh we inherited from InterG, uh preserving their institutional knowledge and operational technical expertise.

3:22

We've created 125 additional jobs here in New Orleans to support our multi-state operations uh in the balance of Louisiana and Mississippi, uh contributing to local economic growth and employment.

3:35

Um we've enhanced the customer access uh experience.

3:40

So we've opened not one but two customer care locations, the first one being on 3400 Canal Street.

3:46

Uh co-like co-located with Intergy, and the second one 3535 General DeGaulle on the West Bank at the Liberty Bank building.

3:54

And we're improving access on the West Bank for our customers.

3:58

We have about a hundred or so customers that visit us on average every day on the east bank and about uh 20 to 40 on the the west bank.

4:08

And we've established a dedicated natural gas uh service team that's accessible.

4:13

Uh 1833 Delta 99.

4:19

We've instituted a lot of uh technology and customer experience improvements, uh the most important of which is probably track my technician technology, which allows customers to monitor their service appointments in real time, and more importantly, provide real-time feedback to us as to how we're doing.

4:38

Um we've engaged with the community and partnering with them consistent with our mission.

4:44

Um we've actively engaged with the community by attending over 25 neighborhood association meetings and community events.

4:51

We've built strong partnerships throughout the community with existing civic groups and demonstrating our commitment to be responsive uh citizen uh utility provider within the city.

5:04

From a customer operations perspective, we look at call center metrics to access to assess our health.

5:12

With respect to that, customers reached out to us in the call center, and they're prompted to participate in a survey, and we've averaged 4.1 out of a five scale represents their satisfaction from a customer rating from July through November, and that has been trending upward.

5:32

We make an additional effort to minimize the wait time that our call center callers have.

5:39

Our service level in November has increased by over 25%.

5:43

20% rather since our launch two months ago.

5:46

We answer 90% of our calls within 20 seconds and have abandoned rate abandonment rates of less than two to five percent.

5:57

Our handle time on each of these calls continues to improve.

6:00

To date, our team has handled over 128,000 across Baton Rouge and New Orleans calls and have improved our handle time by over 18% since we launched service.

6:12

And more importantly, from a field operations perspective, we look at various metrics to assess our health and field operations.

6:21

Since we have initiated operations, we have initiated about 17,400 work orders in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and we've completed about 87% of those work orders.

6:36

And it's important to point that out because this leads to a safer and more reliable system.

6:43

And as respect to our appointments, we we schedule appointments to meet our customers to set up service.

6:51

We've met 86% of our appointments to date that are scheduled in a window.

6:56

Over 90% of the appointments have been met in November and December, meaning that if the customer had an 8 to 12 a.m.

7:04

window, we showed up on site as scheduled to meet them.

7:08

That's a very positive trend that we're continuing to meet as we go forward from the organization from the transition.

7:19

Good morning, Council members.

7:20

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today.

7:22

Just want to talk a bit about utility scam awareness.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Energy Management█████████████████████████████████████████████60%
Procedural████████████16%
Public Engagement███████████14%
Affordable Housing████5%
Community Engagement██3%
Parks and Recreation██2%
Summary of Proceedings

New Orleans City Council Meeting Summary - December 10, 2025

The New Orleans City Council convened on December 10, 2025, to review operational updates from Delta Utilities and Energy New Orleans (ENO), adopt resolutions regarding asset management and reliability improvements, and approve key utility regulatory contracts. The meeting highlighted progress following Delta Utilities' acquisition of Entergy's natural gas assets and detailed ENO's strategies to address persistent reliability issues and reduce outage frequency.

Consent Calendar

  • Meeting Minutes: Adopted unanimously the minutes from the September 9th joint committee meeting. (4 yes, 0 no)

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Logan Burke (Alliance for Affordable Energy): Expressed encouragement regarding the council's action on poor service but noted concern that resolution participants are limited to council advisors and CURO. Stated a position that interveners in the docket since 2017 should be allowed to review discovery and filings for transparency. Also stated a position that customers should not face disconnections if the utility fails to provide reliable service, particularly given rising gas costs.
  • Elizabeth Sojak (Climate Reality Project, Greater New Orleans chapter): Echoed the need for greater transparency in proceedings. Advocated (stated a position) that the City Council vote to stop power shutoffs due to ENO's poor reliability and high bills compared to service quality.
  • Rev. Gregory Manning (Greater New Orleans Interfaith Climate Coalition, via written comment): Called for (stated a position) the creation of a winter-long moratorium on all electric and gas disconnections to protect citizens with limited resources from being denied heat and light during the coldest months.

Discussion Items

  • Delta Utilities Update (Natural Gas): Provided an update on the transition from Entergy, citing a seamless switch on July 1. Reported 58% of customers have been registered, 100% retention of inherited skilled workforce, and the creation of 125 new local jobs. Noted an average customer satisfaction rating of 4.1/5, a 25% increase in service levels since launch, and 87% completion of work orders. Announced the upcoming launch of "DU CARES" within 45 days to provide financial assistance to customers facing economic hardship.
  • Energy New Orleans Reliability Presentation: Presented a 2025 review and 2026 plan. Reported a 70% reduction in transmission-related outages in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to 2024. Stated that self-healing networks avoided 18,000 interruptions. Explained a proactive plan to target distribution areas with frequent outages, address lightning-related incidents, and expand grid monitoring. Acknowledged that substation outages (specifically the Napoleon substation) previously impacted 10,000-12,000 customers per event, prompting an aggressive 2025 plan to replace arresters by end of 2026 and oil-filled breakers by 2027. Admitted that the impetus for new investments was driven by the uptick in 2024 substation outages and a desire to be more aggressive in addressing failure rates.

Key Outcomes

  • Resolution (Asset Management System Review): Adopted unanimously (5 yes, 0 no) directing utility advisors to work with CURO and ENO to update the Quad Technologies (Quanta) study. Directed ENO and advisors to investigate asset management, equipment failure rates, and fair-weather outage trends that began deviating negatively in 2017.
  • Resolution (Cost Prudence for Hurricanes Ian & Francine): Adopted unanimously (5 yes, 0 no) to consider established schedules and certify that costs related to Hurricane Ian or Hurricane Francine were prudently incurred.
  • Resolution (2025 Financing Authorization): Adopted unanimously (5 yes, 0 no) to authorize Entergy to incur debt within established parameters.
  • Resolution (Integrated Resource Plan): Adopted unanimously to accept ENO's 2025 Integrated Resource Plan filing as compliant with IRP rules.
  • Resolution (Energy Smart Program): Adopted unanimously to approve the Energy Smart program for years 16 through 18. Specified that savings goals remain reduced for kWh savings (matching Year 15) and that the battery energy storage system continues. Noted that requests to expand distributed energy resources and the virtual power plant are moved to a separate docket.
  • Resolution (RCPS Compliance Plan): Adopted unanimously to approve Entergy's proposal to purchase unbundled renewable energy certificates for compliance years 2026 through 2028. Directs Entergy to submit a supplemental filing to address deficiencies identified by advisors regarding alternative compliance methods (electrification, community solar, etc.).
  • Regulatory Contracts: Adopted unanimously (5 yes, 0 no) in a global vote to renew contracts for legal advisors (Denton's US LP), technical advisors (Legends Consulting Group), and hearing officers (Jeffrey S. Gullen, Calvin Johnson, and new appointee Maria Ozan) for one year.
  • Adjournment: Meeting adjourned (5 yes, 0 no) on motion of Council Vice President Moreno.
  • Deferred Item: Item 5 was deferred to the December 16, 2025 meeting.
  • Discrepancy Note: During the presentation, Council member Morel referenced "Slide 6" regarding investments, but the speaker (Lee Roy) noted "We don't have a slide six," indicating a discrepancy between the speaker's reference and the visual aid displayed at that moment.

Meeting Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna get started. Please take your seats. Please take your seats. Let me know when you're ready, Aaron. Ready when you are council member. All right, let's do roll call. Councilmember Thomas present. Councilmember Morel present. Councilmember Moreno present. Councilmember Harris present. We have a quorum. Thank you. First up, we have the approval of the minutes from September 9th joint committee meeting. I will move to adopt. Second by Chairman Moreno. All in favor say aye. Four years, no nays. It is adopted. Next we have a presentation by Delta Utilities. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning, Council members. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and to provide an update on our progress transitioning from enter Gollowing Acquisition of the Natural Gas Assets here in New Orleans. So with respect to our service, we've had a seamless transition. We successfully transferred natural gas service from entergy beginning July 1 without any disruption to customers. And our goal internally was to ensure continuity and reliability during that critical transition period. And we believe we've been very successful. In only five months, with if we compare where we were on a customer interaction basis to the toe, we have registered 58% of our customers. We've achieved 100% retention of the skilled workforce that uh we inherited from InterG, uh preserving their institutional knowledge and operational technical expertise. We've created 125 additional jobs here in New Orleans to support our multi-state operations uh in the balance of Louisiana and Mississippi, uh contributing to local economic growth and employment. Um we've enhanced the customer access uh experience. So we've opened not one but two customer care locations, the first one being on 3400 Canal Street. Uh co-like co-located with Intergy, and the second one 3535 General DeGaulle on the West Bank at the Liberty Bank building. And we're improving access on the West Bank for our customers. We have about a hundred or so customers that visit us on average every day on the east bank and about uh 20 to 40 on the the west bank. And we've established a dedicated natural gas uh service team that's accessible. Uh 1833 Delta 99. We've instituted a lot of uh technology and customer experience improvements, uh the most important of which is probably track my technician technology, which allows customers to monitor their service appointments in real time, and more importantly, provide real-time feedback to us as to how we're doing. Um we've engaged with the community and partnering with them consistent with our mission. Um we've actively engaged with the community by attending over 25 neighborhood association meetings and community events. We've built strong partnerships throughout the community with existing civic groups and demonstrating our commitment to be responsive uh citizen uh utility provider within the city. From a customer operations perspective, we look at call center metrics to access to assess our health. With respect to that, customers reached out to us in the call center, and they're prompted to participate in a survey, and we've averaged 4.1 out of a five scale represents their satisfaction from a customer rating from July through November, and that has been trending upward. We make an additional effort to minimize the wait time that our call center callers have. Our service level in November has increased by over 25%. 20% rather since our launch two months ago. We answer 90% of our calls within 20 seconds and have abandoned rate abandonment rates of less than two to five percent. Our handle time on each of these calls continues to improve. To date, our team has handled over 128,000 across Baton Rouge and New Orleans calls and have improved our handle time by over 18% since we launched service. And more importantly, from a field operations perspective, we look at various metrics to assess our health and field operations.

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