Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK – Entergy Arkansas today announced the availability of a new service to let customers send and receive text messages about power outages.

The service, My Account Anywhere, lets customers use their cell phone to report an outage; receive alerts that an outage has occurred or that power has been restored; determine the duration of an outage; know whether loved ones or property are safe or need attention; and know when it might be convenient to return from an evacuation.

“People have been asking for this. This is an exciting new service for us,” Entergy Arkansas spokesman James Thompson said. “Not only can they report an outage this way, they can also get updates. We’re excited about it.”

The service provides routine outage information during normal weather conditions, the company said. In cases of widespread damage caused by a major storm, outage text messages may not be available for affected areas for several days until Entergy determines restoration times, he said.

To use the service, customers must register a cell phone number to their Entergy electricity account. Multiple accounts may be registered to one phone and one account may be registered to multiple phones.

Depending on their wireless plans, customers may be charged for text messages associated with the service, the utility said.

To register from a text-capable cell phone, customers should send the message “reg” (without quotes) to 368374. The system will respond and ask for an Entergy account number and ZIP code.

Entergy Arkansas provides electricity to nearly 648,000 customers in 63 counties.

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On the Net:
www.entergyarkansas.com