[StBernard] Some camp owners get whopping electric bills.

[Westley Annis]

Some camp owners get whopping electric bills.

By Pam Radtke Russell
Business writer

Think your electric bills were high this summer? 

How about paying $2,600 each month for the next 10 years? 

That's what owners of three fishing camps from Venice to West Bay near Buras
have been asked to pay to have electric service restored following Hurricane
Katrina. 

Throughout the state, owners of 460 camps and homes on water in places such
as Bayou Segnette, Wagon Wheel and parts of Chalmette, have received
contracts from Entergy Louisiana asking them to agree to pay a portion of
the $24 million it will cost to restore power to their sites. 

While $2,600 a month is an extreme example, others are being asked to pay a
several hundred dollars extra each month. Many, more, though, are being
asked to pay an additional $70 a month. 
But even that amount is too much for the folks on Grand Bayou near Happy
Jack. 

"Nobody is going to sign it," said Ray Berger of the contracts, which are
voluntary. Berger owns one of 75 camps or homes in the area and his bills
were $25 to $40 a month before the storm. Now the camp owners are being
asked to pay one-tenth of the estimated $775,000 it will cost to restore
service to the area. "We're just going to use generators." 

At least 10 people have signed up to have service in the area, said Jeff
Hages, who owns a camp in Grand Bayou with seven others. Hages said his
group will sign up for the service, though if just 10 to 11 in Grand Bayou
agree to have Entergy provide power, his camp's costs could increase to
close to $200 a month. 

"I don't like it, but I'm backed into a corner. Begrudgingly yes, we're
going to have to," he said. Hages said that it's too inconvenient to deal
with a generator that wouldn't be able to provide power for air
conditioning. 

Berger and Hages both said residents and camp owners in the area were
pleased to see all of the work being done to get electricity restored
earlier this year. 

"We were tickled to death," Hages said. 

But then they got letters from Entergy Louisiana saying they would have to
agree to pay at least $20 a month over the next 10 years, to get the service
restored. In addition, all 460 customers who have electricity provided over
water have to agree to pay an additional $50 a month indefinitely for
environmental mitigation and for future storms. 

"It seems like they should have to put power back where power used to be
before," Hages said. 

Mike McGow, who has a camp next to Berger, said his camp is within sight of
the highway where electricity was restored without additional costs to camps
there. 

"We're penalized because we're on the water," McGow said. 

All three camp owners said they were are concerned about the full-time
residents in the area, many of whom are elderly. 

McGow estimated that about 20 of those in the area live in Grand Bayou year
around. 

"Most of the camp people have a better shot of paying for this than the
families that live there," he said. 

But Mike Twomey, vice president of regulatory affairs for Entergy Louisiana,
said the majority of the customers being asked to pay the additional amount
are camp owners. 

And when they hear the alternatives, many are willing to fork over the extra
cash, he said. So far, 40 of the 460 have signed contracts with Entergy
Louisiana. Entergy says that to its knowledge, none of the customers facing
an extra $2,600 a month have agreed to the contracts. 

The company could have asked the customers to bear the entire costs of
restoring service, Twomey said. 

Instead, they are asking for 10 percent of the restoration costs. The other
90 percent of costs will be paid for by other Entergy Louisiana customers
throughout the state over the next 30 years - customers who in the past who
have paid 100 percent of the costs of maintaining such isolated service. 

"We haven't been providing this for free," he said. "The costs of
maintaining the lines for years have been borne by other customers." 

The utilities' agreement with the state requires them to make power
available to everyone. However, under the company's agreements with the
state, when the utility incurs additional costs - such as running wires over
water - they have the right to charge customers for those extraordinary
costs , Twomey said. 

After last fall's hurricanes, Twomey said Entergy went to the Public Service
Commission and asked commissioners if they thought the entire $23.6 million
in restoration costs for the 460 customers should be passed onto the entire
customer base. 

"Do you ask everybody else in Louisiana to pay for these camps?" Twomey
said. "At some level you have to figure out how to do this in a way that's
fair." 

Since the utilities already face millions in storm related damages that will
be passed onto the customers, commissioners didn't want to pass on all the
costs, Twomey said. 

"This was the fairest way to do it," said Commissioner Jay Blossman. "It's
really an economical way for people who have camps to have electricity." 

While some of the camps and homes may have had electricity supplied for
decades and some were even once on roads, coastal erosion and required
environmental mitigation has made the costs of supplying such services more
expensive every year, Entergy said. 


For example, about $5 million of the $24 million for restoring service will
go to marsh mitigation, Twomey said. 

Twomey said Entergy won't mind if some people don't agree to sign up for
service. It might be the best option in many cases - especially between
Venice in West Bay where it will cost $4 million to restore power for three
customers. 

"We've got to make sure that people make rationale choices," Twomey said. In
some instances, "It would be more cost effective to have a generator. If we
make it (the service) free, they aren't going to pick a generator." 

Pam Radtke Russell can be reached at (504) 826-3351 or
prussell at timespicayune.com.