"We're all suffering now…I'm not happy about it at all…very disappointed…It hurts, it hurts…it is ridiculously high…it's ridiculous, disgusting…"
Shoppers at a Veterans' Boulevard supermarket are expressing their frustration at the rising Entergy electricity rates.
The fury directed at the utility after it passed on costs for infrastructure repair following Hurricane Ida and other costs incurred by the company in recent months.
Consumers reported their electricity bills effectively doubled coming in somewhere around $200 for a modest home of roughly 1600 square feet.
"The bill was $400-and-something dollars…I think this bill was $200 more than last year…my electric bill went up about five times…my bill is the highest bill I've ever had…my bill went up $200 in the last two months."
To make ends meet, shoppers are starting to economize, cutting back on impulse buys and sticking to necessities.
"Been looking for a lot more bargains…definitely trying to find things that are on sale and cutting back on things I would normally buy that are extras…what I see on social media, it's going to get worse, and I have the feeling I'm going to be making changes…we don't go out to eat anymore because it all has to go to groceries…I watch the prices and I may stop when I see something I don't have to have."
One particular consumer WWL to spoke took an interesting approach to the situation of rate hikes and government inability to stop or slow the escalation of electricity bills.
"Every time there is a hurricane, or gas is up, I feel like in this day and age with technology, I feel Entergy and our government should be able to take advantage of technologies to help the public.
This consumer feels Entergy's policy of passing on the cost of repairs to damaged infrastructure and other pitfalls suffered by the Entergy management are unfair and needs to be halted.
