Although Couch died in 1941, the foundation he had established in Mississippi helped position the company to meet the post-World War II surge in electricity demand and the accelerated pace of business and industry expansion.
With water levels creeping higher by the hour, the company decided to take six substations out of service as a safety measure and focus on protecting two that could be saved with levees—the Old Canton Road Substation serving northeast Jackson and the South Jefferson Street Substation serving the downtown area.
Entergy Mississippi has continued adapting to customers’ evolving needs through work-process improvements and investments in new technologies to improve service, efficiency and convenience.
Entergy Mississippi’s contributions to achieving Entergy’s overall sustainability goals have been vital. Over the past two decades, Entergy Mississippi has significantly reduced carbon emissions through fleet modernization; and since 1985, Grand Gulf Nuclear Station has added safe, carbon-free energy to the grid while affordably generating around 20% of Mississippi’s electricity.
In a matter of seconds, the tornado demolished Entergy’s 115,000-volt Southwest Jackson Substation and severed six major transmission lines and numerous distribution lines, prompting crews to work around the clock until full service was restored.
Investor-owned utilities like MP&L and member-owned utilities like CEPA weren’t friends—they were competitors. The entities were in constant legal negotiations over territory. But MP&L had an advantage.
After 1994, Entergy started transitioning to a more centralized approach to storm response that included leveraging resources across the company’s four-state area to accelerate service restoration.
In 1999, Entergy Mississippi achieved a historic milestone in diversity when Carolyn (Shanks) Correro was named president and chief executive officer, becoming the first woman to lead an Entergy operating company.
A hundred years ago, Arkansas businessman Harvey Couch was making good on his vision to electrify the South when he incorporated The Mississippi Power and Light Company, the precursor of Entergy Mississippi. His new venture not only brought modern electric service to the Mississippi Delta—the heart of the state’s agricultural economy—but also unlocked future growth opportunities in a region rich with potential.
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