Entergy

On November 13, 1913, Harvey Couch established Arkansas Power and Light (AP&L). Its first deal used steam from a sawdust-powered boiler.⁠[1]

In 1923 Couch and his associates chartered Mississippi Power & Light (MP&L).⁠[2]

In 1925 Couch merged his businesses with EBASCO, a General ElectricGE AerospaceGE Aerospace is the name under which General Electric Company operates, a jet engine maker listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker GE.Open the full entry subsidiary, forming EP&L. The 1935 Public Utility Holding Company Act forced both to break up the multilevel holding structure.⁠[1]

In 1949 Middle South Utilities (MSU) became the holding company for Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Power and Light and New Orleans Public Service.⁠[3]

That year the company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.⁠[1]

In 1974 MP&L received a full construction permit for Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, which entered commercial operation in 1985.⁠[2]

In 1975 MSU moved its headquarters from New York to New Orleans. In 1985 Edwin Lupberger became chief executive after Floyd Lewis retired.⁠[4]

In 1989 MSU was renamed Entergy Corporation.⁠[3]

In 1993 Entergy merged with Gulf States Utilities, adding River Bend Station as its fourth nuclear site.⁠[4]

In 1998 Entergy shed its international holdings and noncore domestic businesses, and J. Wayne Leonard was named chief executive officer.⁠[4]

In 2005 Hurricane Katrina left 1.1 million Entergy customers without power, and the headquarters temporarily moved to Jackson, Mississippi.⁠[2]

About 123,000 of Entergy New Orleans’ 189,000 electric customers could not take service for months. The subsidiary filed for Chapter 11 in September 2005 and emerged in May 2007, aided by $200 million in Community Development Block Grants.⁠[5]

Entergy had planned to move six nuclear units into a new company, Enexus Energy Corp. On March 25, 2010, the New York Public Service Commission rejected the plan as “not in the public’s interest,” and Entergy withdrew it in April.⁠[6]

In 2013 Leo Denault succeeded J. Wayne Leonard as chairman and CEO, when the company held six merchant nuclear plants. In March 2017 Entergy sold one of them, FitzPatrick, to Exelon.⁠[7]

Entergy’s public relations firm used Crowds on Demand to hire actors posing as citizens supporting the 128-MW gas-fired New Orleans Power Station.⁠[8]

Council investigators found that the actors were paid on October 16, 2017, and February 20, 2018. Entergy group president Rod West said the company had fired the firm that hired the actors.⁠[9]

In February 2019 the New Orleans City Council unanimously finalized a $5 million fine, its largest ever, and the plant moved forward.⁠[8]

Indian Point Unit 2 shut down in April 2020 and Unit 3 on April 30, 2021.⁠[10]

In May 2021 Entergy completed the sale of Indian Point to a Holtec International subsidiary. CEO Leo Denault said the company would “remain on track to complete our exit from nuclear power operations in merchant markets.”⁠[11]

On August 29, 2021, Hurricane Ida moved through Louisiana and all eight transmission lines into New Orleans failed, leaving the city dark. About 895,000 Entergy New Orleans and Entergy Louisiana customers were without power on the morning of August 30.⁠[12]

On February 7, 2022, Entergy unveiled a new brand and logo, replacing a logo unchanged for more than 30 years.⁠[13]

Entergy said the transition cost would not be passed on to customers. CEO Leo Denault said the company was “proactively transforming our company to meet new opportunities.”⁠[14]

In June 2022 Entergy completed the sale of the Palisades Power Plant to Holtec International.⁠[4]

On August 17, 2022, Entergy announced that Leo Denault would retire in 2023 and that the board had elected Drew Marsh, chief financial officer since 2013, to succeed him as CEO effective November 1. Denault was to remain executive chairman until retiring.⁠[15]

On July 1, 2025, Entergy completed the sale of the Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans natural gas distribution businesses to Delta Utilities, backed by Bernhard Capital Partners. They served about 96,000 customers in Baton Rouge and 108,000 in New Orleans.⁠[16]

On August 20, 2025, the Louisiana Public Service Commission voted 4–1 to approve three new Entergy gas plants for Meta’s data center in northeast Louisiana. Commissioner Davante Lewis, the lone vote against, said “there’s just a lot of things that I cannot verify at this moment.”⁠[17]

The Richland Parish data center needs 2.3 gigawatts. Over the 15-year deal MetaMetaMeta (Meta Platforms, Inc.) is a publicly listed American technology company, renamed from Facebook in 2021, that operates social communication, digital advertising, virtual reality, smart glasses and artificial intelligence businesses.Open the full entry covers all power plant costs but not the transmission line.⁠[18]

In 2025 Entergy’s utility operating revenues were $12,888 million ($11,806 million in 2024), and net income attributable to Entergy Corporation was $1,758 million ($1,056 million in 2024).⁠[19]

As of December 31, 2025, the company had approximately 12,000 employees, and as of May 2026 it owned and operated about 25,000 megawatts of generating capacity.⁠[20]

On February 12, 2026, Entergy announced 2025 earnings of $3.91 per share, the same on an adjusted basis, and set 2026 adjusted earnings guidance of $4.25 to $4.45 per share. The Arkansas Public Service Commission had approved Entergy Arkansas’s special rate contract for Google.⁠[21]