Family documented a year of outages, complaints in fight for reliable electricity
ST. GABRIEL, La. — A St. Gabriel family says their power has gone out more than 60 times since last summer, a problem they say puts their 2-year-old son’s health at risk. The child has a diagnosed lung condition and depends on electricity for breathing treatments, while some of his medication requires refrigeration.
His mother, Holly Judd, said she no longer wonders whether the power will go out — she expects it.
“It literally is a life-or-death situation,” Judd said. “He’s had multiple hospital stays already. We don’t want to go through that again because of an issue of not having power in 2026. like it’s 2026 and you can’t provide consistent, reliable energy to a neighborhood that is 10 minutes outside of the capital city.”
Family documents outages, losses
Judd said the outages have become so frequent — sometimes occurring every week and sometimes multiple times in a single day — that the family has lost groceries, missed work, and spent thousands of dollars replacing food and other items. She said the outages often do not affect the entire neighborhood, with nearby houses retaining power while her section of the street goes dark.
“Ultimately, we re-bought the exact same groceries four times in less than five days, and that was my breaking point,” Judd said. “I was like, I am not doing this anymore; this is too much; I cannot.”
That prompted Judd to begin documenting everything — every email, outage alert, phone call, meeting, photo, and complaint filed with the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
A year of contact with Entergy
Records reviewed by this station include emails, recorded phone calls, meeting transcripts, outage alerts, photos, and Public Service Commission filings.
Those records show Judd first contacted Entergy about her son’s medical concerns last summer. Emphasizing the distress these hours-long outages cause her son, especially in the summertime.
Over the following year, she continued reporting outages, requesting updates, meeting with company officials, and eventually filing a formal complaint with the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
In August of 2025, Entergy met with the family, acknowledged reliability concerns in the area, and discussed possible engineering improvements, while saying a permanent fix could take time. Judd said more than a year has passed with no answers and no solutions.
“I’d get a text message saying a service person was on site,” Judd said. “My husband and I would get in the truck and drive the route, and we wouldn’t see any trucks.”
She said the company attributed outages to weather on days she described as sunny.
State regulator steps in
Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis said his office is now requesting engineering and diagnostic reports from Entergy to determine whether the outages were caused by factors outside the company’s control or whether a larger problem exists that needs to be addressed.
“Power is a life essential necessity,” Lewis said. “It is no longer a luxury.”
Lewis said the case also highlights a broader issue that could affect any Entergy customer in the state. He said utilities are currently measured on their system’s overall reliability, meaning improvements in one part of the state can improve a company’s score even if a specific neighborhood continues experiencing repeated outages.
Lewis said he is pushing for new rules that would measure reliability at the neighborhood level.
Entergy declined a request for an on-camera interview. In a statement, the company said:
“We are aware of the concerns regarding reliability in the area. We are currently working with local officials to put forth a plan to better serve our customers in St. Gabriel. We will share more information on the plan as it becomes available.”
Judd said the family is not seeking special treatment.
“We just want the same thing every customer expects when they pay their electric bill,” Judd said. “Safe, reliable power.”
Lewis said once he receives the engineering reports from Entergy, he will review them to determine what caused the repeated outages and what comes next for the family.
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