Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Entergy Serves Arkansas For 85 Years

Entergy Arkansas has reached a new milestone this year: 85 years of serving the people of Arkansas.

The approximately 4,100 employees of Entergy Arkansas, which now service more than 615,000 customers, observed the investor-owned utility's birthday as a company on November 11, according to Drake Keith, president and chief executive officer.

"Entergy Arkansas is committed in its 85th year to getting back to the basics," said Keith. "We intend to continue the high quality of service that his important product demands in our modern society.

"We are proud to celebrate the achievements shared by the company, employees, and the state for these 85 years. Community leadership has run as a thread through the fabric of Entergy and our employees," he continued.

"Today, as we look ahead to competition and customer choice emerging in the electric utility industry, Entergy Arkansas reaffirms its commitment to Arkansas," Keith said.

Born out of the consolation of a number of smaller entities, Harvey Couch created Arkansas Power Company on November 11, 1913. The company's name changed to Arkansas Power and Light in 1926.

In less than a decade the Arkansas utility became the state's largest industry in dollars invested, taxes paid and the number of employees. The population boom and military and industrial activities of World War II led to extraordinary demands for electricity.

Over the next 50 years Entergy built generating plants fueled by natural gas. In 1974 Entergy fired up Arkansas Nuclear One near Russellville the first nuclear power plant in the southwest.

For 85 years, Entergy has weathered floods, ice storms and tornadoes, wars and depressions all the while maintaining a critical harmony between supply and demand and helping make Arkansas a powerful place for business and a wonderful place to live.

Entergy Corporation is a major energy company with global power production and distribution operations, plus related diversified services. Entergy provides retail energy services to about 4.8 million customers, about half of whom reside in the company's U.S. service area which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.