BATON ROUGE –  Louisiana residents who are poor, elderly or disabled may soon have access to more federal aid to help fight high energy costs if Entergy Louisiana, LLC has its way.

Entergy  Louisiana employees and community advocates for Louisiana’s low income residents will be in Washington  D.C. on Wednesday, Feb. 11 as part of a national campaign to urge Congress to provide additional funding to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. LIHEAP provides financial assistance that helps low income residents offset high energy costs.

“Worldwide economic problems are putting more and more American families in financial crisis,” said Patty Riddlebarger, director of social corporate responsibility for Entergy. “As this recession continues, the number of customers who have to choose between paying their bills and buying food or medicine is going to grow.”

Entergy Louisiana employees will join more than 150 representatives of nonprofits, community action groups and utilities from across the country on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as part of the National Fuel Fund Network’s LIHEAP Action Day. Entergy Louisiana employees are participating in this event as part of their commitment to help low-income customers in Louisiana better cope with high energy prices. LIHEAP is the primary tool to help working poor families and households, especially those with preschoolers, elderly or disabled residents struggling to pay energy costs.

To be eligible for LIHEAP funds, a Louisianan living alone must earn less than $18,770 per year while a family of four must earn less than $36,097 per year. However, the limited funds in the state are provided on a first come, first served basis. State residents who qualify for LIHEAP should contact their local community action agency to apply for funds. Residents who aren’t sure which agency to contact can call the Louisiana Association of Community Action Partnerships at (225) 298-3323 to find the agency in their area.

 “We are seeing more and more first-time LIHEAP applicants this year, which is a strong indicator of how deep the recession is cutting,” Riddlebarger said. “Congress needs to provide a safety net for those caught in this economic tragedy and better LIHEAP funding is an important part of that net. Entergy believes Congress should increase funding for LIHEAP or, at the very least, keep it stable at the $5.1 billion level approved for this past year. This is no time to pull the rug out from under people struggling to survive.”

LIHEAP funding for this past year marked a needed increase from prior years but still fell short of the amount needed to help a larger group of Louisiana residents.  Louisiana received $61.5 million in LIHEAP funds last year, compared to just $19.7 million the year before. But even additional funding, LIHEAP still only helps about 25% of eligible households in the U.S.

“Even though funding is at record levels, LIHEAP still reaches only a fraction of those families eligible to receive it,” Riddlebarger said. “By sustaining LIHEAP funding at $5.1 billion, or by further adding to funding, Congress can ensure states like Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas at last receive their fair share of LIHEAP funding.”

Entergy’s Louisiana utility companies serve more than one million customers through the operating companies Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. With operations in southern, central and northeastern Louisiana, the companies are part of Entergy Corporation’s electric system serving 2.7 million customers in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas.

-30-

Entergy  Louisiana’s online address is entergy-louisiana.com

Thanks,

Sheila Young Butler

Customer Service Manager

St. James & St. John Parishes

Entergy Louisiana

Mail Unit L-RES-470

Ph Internal 8 525-2025

Ph External (985) 479-2025

Ph Cell (225) 206-0336

sbutler@entergy.com