Entergy Texas has filed an application with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to begin offering an enhanced resiliency solution for commercial and small industrial customers across Southeast Texas. If approved by the PUCT, Entergy Texas would be able to begin providing this service to interested customers around January 2022.
Entergy's offering — called Power Through — uses backup generation that benefits both customers and the community. Entergy Texas would install, operate, own, and maintain the generator, while the customer pays a monthly fee. If an outage occurs, the generator switches on, allowing the business to continue operations. However, during the majority of the time when the host customer is served from the grid, Entergy Texas can use that available power capacity to serve customers in the surrounding area.
"Our focus is on providing reliable power to our customers, but sometimes uncontrollable events occur," said Stuart Barrett, vice president of customer service for Entergy Texas. "This new program will help businesses that require uninterrupted power — such as grocery stores, hospitals, and other essential businesses — by providing a solution that ensures greater reliability."
This program builds on Entergy Texas' successful pilot project to test this concept with a grocery store in The Woodlands area. Since deploying the initial pilot in 2019, Entergy Texas has used the generator numerous times to serve power needs in the local area, as well as the customer using the system during an outage in the area.
"Our experience with our pilot project has shown that these types of commercial backup generators have significant value for all of our customers," Barrett said. “The expansion of this program, pending commission approval, will help meet a critical customer need and continue our work to invest in reliable and affordable infrastructure for our customers."
Entergy Texas filed its application on Dec. 9, 2020, and the Public Utility Commission of Texas has one year to review and reach a final decision.
