New Orleans community solar customers only have to pay one bill, council decides
The Times-Picayune, Violet Bucaro and Joni Hess, August 21, 2026
Entergy New Orleans customers who support solar initiatives will soon see a single electricity bill under rules the New Orleans City Council approved Thursday that were years in the making.
Sister Judith Therese Barial walks through the Sisters’ solar site. Photograph by Brett Duke
Entergy has until March 31 to issue consolidated bills for “community solar” customers, those who don’t have panels on their properties but support off-site solar projects.
The solar facility produces power that is then credited to those customers’ electricity bills. The electricity bill savings is supposed to outweigh the cost of participating in the program.
But under the city’s current setup, participants would receive two bills: One from the solar farm, and another from Entergy. That structure makes it too hard for customers to tell if they are actually achieving savings, critics said.
“The resolution strengthens annual reporting requirements and safeguards to protect nonparticipating ratepayers from unnecessary bill impacts,” said Council member Aimee McCarron in a statement. “And, as discussed previously in committee, this establishes net-credit consolidated billing as the billing mechanism for the community solar program.”
The new rules also aim to lower administrative fees and protect nonparticipating Entergy customers from rate increases.
An Entergy spokesperson said the utility will enact the new requirements.
“Entergy New Orleans will continue to engage collaboratively with all parties as we work to implement the Council’s community solar program with the consolidated billing requirements adopted today within the time frames required by the resolution,” Beau Tidwell said in a statement.
The move follows a yearslong back and forth between the city, Entergy and advocacy groups over whether the existing structure, with two sets of bills and little info about reduced costs, is in the best interest of the public. Entergy officials argued that changing the program would result in higher costs for nonparticipating customers.
Entergy officials also argued that they could not enact the program without major updates to their billing system that could cost up to $1.5 million, according to a June letter officials sent to the council. It would also take at least eight months to fully carry out, they said.
But advocacy groups such as Together New Orleans said the new system’s benefits outweighed those concerns. The council, which regulates Entergy New Orleans with the help of a team of consultants and a small in-house office, agreed.
The city’s first-of-its kind Community Solar for All programs, adopted in 2018, caused New Orleans to join a growing contingent of cities and states who were using similar programs.
The programs reduce energy costs and benefit the city at large by lowering demand on the grid, reducing rolling blackouts and decreasing reliance on fossil fuel sources.
They also allow people to tap into solar power without needing to install rooftop panels. When subscribed to a community solar program, the property owner also owns a share of the project, and in exchange, can get credit on their energy bills.
The first of the proposed community solar projects, a 22-acre solar farm in New Orleans East run by Sisters of the Holy Family and Together New Orleans, is under construction. An expected completion date has not been determined.
The planned community solar pipeline in New Orleans includes 60 megawatts of solar capacity, which equates to solar energy support for roughly 6,000-7,800 homes. If all projects are completed, the energy produced would translate to roughly half of the energy output of the New Orleans East Power Plant.
The city’s slow setup of the consolidated bill structure has frustrated residents and program advocates who say the program would be a service to residents struggling with high electricity bills but who can’t install solar panels of their own.
“The idea that it would take eight more months to implement consolidated billing, I think, is absurd. And I think it could be done in a weekend if not a month,” resident Daniel Weill said at a June City Council meeting on the proposal.
Resident Debra Salbador said the current structure has been confusing and inconvenient for low- and moderate-income households, as they must pay two different bills that go out on different days from two different entities each month.
“Dual billing adds a burden for the very folks targeted for this plan,” she said. “Consolidated billing is essential to the success of this program.”
“To continue to push a delay is causing a financial burden on your residents, on the residents who elected you to take care of them,” Rev. Barrington Gidney added.
Entergy will have to submit an implementation plan in September and provide monthly status reports thereafter.
