NEW ORLEANS -- Charles Rice, who has been at the helm of Entergy New Orleans as it strives to polish its image amid the recent paid-actor scandal and an ongoing problem with outage issues, will step down from his current role with the company, sources tell WWL-TV and The New Orleans Advocate.
Rice was conspicuously absent from a Thursday meeting of the City Council’s Utility Committee.
Speaking in his place was Entergy Corp. President Rod West. Asked by WWL-TV where Rice was, West declined to comment.
Fewer than two weeks ago, on Aug. 7, Rice sold nearly half-a-million dollars in Entergy Corp. stock, according to an insider disclosure the company was required to make to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Rice exercised his option to purchase 5,766 shares of Entergy stock at a previously set price and immediately sold those shares at the current market price, netting about $70,025 in the process.
“I know that we have not made your job easy in recent months,” West told the council. “We are here to tell you that we plan to fix and address that.”
Utilities Committee Chairwoman Helena Moreno wondered aloud why West was in the hot seat.
Moreno didn’t want to speculate on Rice’s status, but she admitted that the relationship with Entergy New Orleans’ current leadership is strained.
“At the end of the day, Entergy New Orleans and our dealings with them, at least for me over the past 100 days, have been very difficult,” Moreno said.
On Thursday, West and other Entergy officials unveiled a plan to build three solar energy farms in the metro area: one in New Orleans East, one in St. James Parish and one in Washington Parish.
“We recognize that the process to obtain renewable resources took much longer then the council expected,” West said. “While much of the reasons for this involved matters beyond our control, we know that you don't want excuses, only results.”
If approved, those projects would bring the total of Entergy New Orleans renewable resources to 98 megawatts.
West also pledged to spend an additional $5 million to improve the reliability of Entergy’s power grid in the city.
“I am here in the hope that we can begin to correct and reset our path forward,” West said. “I'm ready to renew this company's commitment to be a stronger and more constructive partner with this council and with the New Orleans community not only with words, but with concrete steps forward.”
As West vowed to improve Entergy’s reliability in the city, another massive power outage affected more than 18,000 customers in New Orleans East and the Marigny.
“I saw the weather when I came in. It is not even raining very hard right now,” Councilman Jason Williams told West. “There are no strong winds right now, but 18,000 customers in the dark is still inexcusable.”
Eyewitness Investigator David Hammer contributed to this report.
Paul Murphy can be reached at pmurphy@wwltv.com.