Natural gas infrastructure not built for generator demand

quote:

---

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Keeping your power on can be a struggle after any storm. That’s why many people invest in a whole-home generator.

“With two young children, we wanted to make sure we were set up for success in future storms,” said M.E. Cormier.

Cormier said she bought her whole-home generator after Hurricane Ida in 2021. She is one of the thousands of people in Louisiana who have made the investment, but spending all that green has some people seeing red.

“Most of our infrastructure for gas is not built for the type of demand that comes from a home generator,” said Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis.

Lewis added the state’s gas infrastructure needs upgrades in order to keep up with the growing popularity of generators. South Coast Gas in Raceland is experiencing this firsthand.

The utility said people in Thibodaux with whole-home generators are experiencing a lack of gas pressure. The utility explained, “(Its) system was not built for the demand due to the popularity of generators.”

“The infrastructure is built for a day that is very normal, especially in the summer,” Lewis explained. “If you, let’s say, live in a place where 30 people are now coming on with their whole house generators on, that pressure is now being pulled in so many different directions that it’s going to slow down the gas that’s getting to each generator making some of those generators not even come on line.”

Entergy Louisiana sent the following statement:

Entergy utilizes a range of modeling tools to predict how the system will respond to various conditions, including sudden increases in gas demand. Before major events, we work closely with our gas suppliers to ensure there are no interruptions at our gas city gates—the transfer points from transmission pipelines to our local system. It’s also important for customers to inform their gas provider when installing new appliances or generators, so system models remain accurate and up to date.

Cormier gave this advice to anyone thinking about getting a whole-home generator.

“We’ve all experienced and been through things and events that backups are always the best plan,” said Cormier.

Lewis said he plans on bringing up this topic at a future Public Service Commission meeting. He added that potential utility upgrades could mean an increase in your natural gas bill.

---