Last week, at least a dozen people in a Jackson apartment complex lost power in near-triple-digit heat after Entergy Mississippi disconnected service over alleged meter tampering. One resident was taken to the hospital for heat exertion. The others had no place to go until a city council member, acting on her own initiative, arranged emergency shelter.

The Grand Chateau Apartments on West Capitol Street were supposed to be vacant. The owner had issued eviction notices in May 2025 but never properly secured the building. People remained. When Entergy cut the power, those residents received no warning.

Three systems failed at the same time. The property owner failed to confirm the building was empty before utilities were cut. Entergy disconnected power to a building with at least two active accounts, in dangerous heat, with no protocol to check whether anyone was inside. And the city, despite flagging code violations as recently as September 2025, lacked the tools to act before the crisis hit.

"The City of Jackson cannot be just caretakers for everybody's circumstances," Ward 5 City Council Member Vernon Hartley told Mississippi Today. "We're limited by funding, and we're also limited by law."

That is exactly the problem. The law needs to change.

Sign this petition to demand the Mississippi Legislature and Mississippi Public Service Commission require utility companies to verify occupancy before disconnecting power during extreme heat, strengthen landlord liability for habitability failures, and create dedicated emergency relocation funding so Jackson families never again have to wait for a council member to show up at their door.