KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Sierra Club issues annual grades for utility companies
- Cleco improves to a B, Entergy earns a C
- Entergy New Orleans scores an A with renewable investment
- Critics warn utilities still rely heavily on natural gas
Utility companies just got their grades back from a leading environmental group’s annual report card on whether they generate clean energy and provide affordable power. In Louisiana, the results might paint a rosier picture than reality reflects.
The Sierra Club’s “Dirty Truth Report” evaluates utilities’ plans to deliver cheap, clean energy to customers and gives them a grade based on their investment in renewable energy and commitment to retire fossil fuel-generated electricity by 2035.
Cleco and Entergy are among the 75 utilities featured in the Sierra Club evaluation, which gave the entire industry an F – its lowest grade since it began issuing report cards in 2021.
Holly Bender, the Sierra Club’s chief program officer, said in a news release it was “alarming” to see utilities move backward in their transitions to clean energy transition.
But in contrast to the national trend, New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. earned a C average. It comes after a B last year and an F in 2023. Cleco, headquartered in Pineville, received a B grade for 2025 after four straight years of Ds.
The Sierra Club’s review included grades for utility affiliates.
Entergy New Orleans improved from a B to an A with more investment in renewable energy, who Entergy Louisiana, which fell from a B to a C, lost points for its “over-reliance on gas” and “fewer investments in renewable energy,” according to the report.
The Alliance for Affordable Energy, a consumer advocacy group, thinks utilities should emphasize more renewable energy generation, with a focus on community solar projects in particular.
Alaina DiLaura, the alliance’s policy coordinator, said the ratings also don’t truly capture utilities’ ongoing reliance on fossil fuels.
For example, Cleco’s filings with the Louisiana Public Service Commission show plans to transition a coal-burning power plant to natural gas, an aspect of continued fossil fuel use she said the Sierra Club report doesn’t fully consider.
The Sierra Club’s analysis should have been more critical of utilities’ plans to expand their reliance on natural gas, she said.
For example, Cleco has said it will retire all but one of its coal-powered power plants and invest in carbon capture and sequestration. While proponents tout CCS projects as environmentally friendly, critics question that claim and note they encourage more fossil fuel use. The technology can also consume a lot of electricity.
Despite originally planning to retire its coal-powered Rodemacher Unit 2 power plant in Rapides Parish, Cleco submitted plans Sept. 5 to the Louisiana Public Service Commission to keep it running using natural gas, DiLaura said.
Cleco is also looking to use natural gas at its largest power plant, Madison 3, alongside the petroleum coke (a crude oil refining byproduct) it currently runs on. The utility has informed state regulators it will add “700 megawatts of new gas generation,” DiLaura said citing its latest filings.
Entergy Louisiana will add 2,200 megawatts of generation capacity – a 20% increase of its statewide output – once it builds three natural gas-powered plants to run the massive Meta data center under construction in Richland Parish.
Entergy New Orleans’ grade improvement is also misleading, DiLaura said, because its latest plans involve expanding its use of natural gas, which means the utility won’t meet its 2035 goal of net zero carbon emissions.
Entergy New Orleans spokesman Beau Tidwell said that even though it intends to use more natural gas, the company will “remain committed to transparent disclosure about our progress and any challenges we might encounter.”
