Entergy Mississippi Prepared for Winter Weather Wild Card; Work begins well before first snap of cold weather

JACKSON, Miss. -- Long before leaves and temperatures fall, Entergy Mississippi, Inc. begins preparing for winter weather and the inevitable storms that come with it.

"Winter storms can be pretty fierce and whether they bring snow, ice, rain or tornadoes, you can bet they'll also bring outages," said Robbin Jeter, Entergy Mississippi director of transmission and distribution. "For months before the first storm strikes, we work to prepare our electricity network as much as possible for the rough weather that winter can bring."

This coming winter is expected to fall into the ENSO, or El Nino Southern Oscillation, Neutral category. The National Weather Service says that means it will be neither El Nino nor La Nina, which makes it difficult to predict what type of winter weather to expect.

"Regardless, we prepare for the worst," said Jeter. "The company has spent nearly $90 million dollars this year on transmission and distribution reliability projects to improve the system and prepare for winter weather."

"We've inspected and repaired more than 100 circuits, we've trimmed trees and vegetation along more than 3,100 miles of power lines and we'll have cut down more than 3,500 dead or dying trees that threaten our lines," he added.

In addition, company officials constantly review emergency staffing levels, supplies and procedures.

"Our warehouses contain what we call 'storm kits'," said Jeter. "These are containers that have most of the supplies we need to get us through the first 24 to 36 hours of a major storm. By the time the kits are exhausted, we'll have set up material yards and staging areas to provide more supplies."

To learn more about how Entergy Mississippi prepares for storms and to learn valuable winter storm tips, log onto entergymississippi.com/your_home/storm_center/ .

Entergy Mississippi, Inc. provides electricity to more than 437,000 customers in 45 counties. It is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including more than 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power, making it one of the nation's leading nuclear generators. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Contact: Mara Hartmann

Entergy Mississippi, Inc.

mhartma@entergy.com

entergy-mississippi.com .

Twitter: @EntergyMS

facebook.com/EntergyMS

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