SWEPCO on smart meters, higher bills, and efforts to reduce Bossier outages
Plus — Bossier City Police report 6 thefts in 3 days: See where.
Thursday, September 18, 2025
Bossier City forecast
🌤️ Today High: 94°F 💨 Wind: S 5 mph 🌧️ Rain: 20% chance (PM) ☀️ Mostly sunny with a slight chance of afternoon storms
🌥️ Tonight Low: 68°F 💨 Wind: S 5 mph 🌧️ Rain: 20% chance (Evening) 🌙 Partly cloudy, slight chance of evening storms
⛅ Friday High: 91°F | Low: 69°F 💨 Wind: SW 5 mph 🌧️ Rain: 30% chance 🌦️ Partly cloudy with scattered showers & storms possible
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SWEPCO on smart meters, higher bills, and efforts to reduce Bossier outages
Are SWEPCO's new smart meters running up higher bills for customers? That's one question Michael Corbin, external affairs manager with SWEPCO faced at Wednesday's Bossier Parish Police Jury meeting.
Corbin also updated the jury on SWEPCO's efforts to reduce outages in Bossier.
"The new meters that you're putting out, everybody's complaining about their bills being higher," Jury President Glenn Benton said. "Plus, I got a notice from y'all that said, 'Hey, you're using 30% more electricity this month than you did in the previous. Nothing changed in my household. So I'm just kind of curious."
Corbin said that the AMI meters, often referred to as smart meters, can be more accurate.
"They do give a more accurate reading in some cases. If somebody had an old meter, there's a possibility that it wasn't reading as well. The other thing that it does is it gives just that information that you mentioned," Corbin said. But he also noted that the rollout of the meters coincided with other factors that could lead to higher bills.
"AMI meter deployment, really in Louisiana, and especially in north Louisiana, sort of aligned with a spike in gas prices, hot weather, and that caused the bills to go up. So you may have not ever changed your thermostat settings, but your usage is higher because your systems are having to work harder to keep your house at that desired temperature," Corbin said.
Benton pressed, "You charge me to put it in, and then the people start getting higher bills."
Corbin admitted that some new charges have also been added to customer bills.
"In the past six or eight months, there are a couple of line items that have been added. Storm recovery and some renewable energy recovery riders.
And all those small things do add up to a larger bill like that sometimes."
Corbin said SWEPCO has recently been granted $18 million additional dollars for forestry and vegetation work in Louisiana.
"We are identifying what we refer to as poor-performing circuits, circuits that have had an abnormal amount of outages. We're beginning at the substation, and we're trimming [trees] to the end of the circuit, which sometimes can be 30, 40, 50 miles.This work is underway right now, as it's finished over the next 10 to 12 months, we believe that our customers are going to see large improvements in outages, especially as these little afternoon storms blow through and knock trees and knock limbs off because we'll have these right-of-ways cleared," Corbin said.
SWEPCO is also replacing 1,000 poles in Bossier Parish, he added.
"It will likely continue into next year. Good and bad, a new pole means it's more resilient, stronger, can hold up to winds, and maybe even some of the auto accidents that are the number two cause of power outages behind storms. But every time we replace a pole, that does create a small outage for a group of customers."
A large transmission line that stretches from Longwood in Caddo Parish to just north of Sarepta at Highway 2 is also being rebuilt. Corbin estimated that the project will be completed in 2026.
Construction of a new substation at Brownlee Road will begin soon, Corbin added.
"We're going to build a completely new substation there, which will tie in with other work we've done in the area and create more resiliency there and give more capacity. And then we'll be doing some substation work in the Haughton area to expand that substation as well."
BPCC Theatre to present An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe to kick off spooky season
The Bossier Parish Community College Theatre Program and the Cavalier Players will usher in the Halloween season with their upcoming production of An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe, adapted by Robert Mason.
Performances will run Oct. 3–12 in the Stephen W. Slaughter Theatre, located inside Building C on BPCC’s Bossier Campus. Evening shows begin at 7:30 pm on Oct. 3, 4, 10 and 11, with matinee performances at 2 pm on Oct. 5 and 12.
Step into the wonderfully eerie world of Edgar Allan Poe through six chilling stage adaptations of his most haunting tales. From beloved classics like The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart to lesser-known gems such as The Oblong Box and The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether, this spine-tingling evening of theatre captures Poe at his most horrifying.
“An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe offers a fantastical way to begin the fall season of spooks, creepiness and a bit of horrific humor, all presented in that way that only Edgar Allan Poe (and maybe a few others) can,” said Dr. Ray Scott Crawford, BPCC Performing Arts Program Director and the production’s director. “This collection of short plays, as adapted from Poe’s short stories, gives our students the challenge of delving into extreme characters of many nations and walks of life—all confronting the horrors of the unknown or the ‘beyond.’ I hope our audiences will share the chill, if not the spine-tingling fright of our students’ portrayals.”
From auditions to final curtain, BPCC Theatre students are immersed in every aspect of the production — including acting, costume and set design, stage management and advanced digital projection techniques.
The ensemble cast of BPCC students, joined by a few community actors, will portray all 42 characters. Cast members include Colby Garrett, Mike Elmore, Gabriel Dunn, Logan Pudak, David Bushness, Kelsea Lee, Chaz Hudson, Andrew Thrasher, Tamayia Jarvis, Ellen Douglas, MC Carpenter, Jason Prothro, Ben Moss, Aubre Shillings, Blaine Fultz, Joslyn Buzzanca, Rocket Loam, River Storm and Eliza Megee.
Student production crew members are Julia Parr, stage manager; Valtia Palmer, assistant stage manager and props assistant; Khameece McCullough, sound operator; and tech crew members Peyton Nichols, Eden Kalmasy and Kelcy Hammonds.
Production staff include David White, scenic/lighting designer and technical director; Rona Leber, costume designer; Davi Cole, properties designer; and Lari Leber, dramaturg.
This production is recommended for teenage and adult audiences due to thematic elements. General admission is $15. Tickets may be reserved online at bpcc.edu/theatre. Contact theatre@bpcc.edu for more information.
Radiance Technologies, LSU Health Shreveport and LA Tech unite for nearly $6 million project to fuel defense biology innovations
Radiance Technologies has been awarded a contract valued up to $5.85 million over 18 months by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Biological Technologies Office.
Radiance will lead a groundbreaking partnership with Louisiana State University Health Shreveport and Louisiana Tech University to develop whole-cell modeling and simulation capabilities for E. coli.
The project aims to create a next-generation simulation system capable of predicting bacterial behavior under various conditions. This predictive capability could aid in preventing antibiotic resistance, optimizing microbial production processes, and understanding how pathogens behave in battlefield conditions.
“This partnership represents exactly the kind of innovative collaboration that drives real breakthroughs,” said Radiance CEO Bill Bailey. “It's exciting to see North Louisiana becoming a real player in advanced biotech research.”
Leveraging the unique strengths of each institution, this joint initiative will tackle complex scientific challenges that no single organization could address alone. Radiance brings advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning expertise to interpret extensive biological data. LSU Health Shreveport contributes state-of-the-art laboratory infrastructure, including transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics facilities. Louisiana Tech University adds expert microscopy and computational analysis capabilities.
Dr. Jason Comer, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at LSU Health Shreveport and Director of the BSL-3 Research Facility, emphasized the collective nature of the effort.
“This is a bold new chapter in research for North Louisiana. Each partner in this collaboration brings something unique to the table. Together, we are forming a true research corridor along I-20.”
"We're excited to contribute our interdisciplinary expertise in microscopy and computational analysis to [the project], driving innovative solutions at the intersection of biology and technology," said Dr. Mark DeCoster, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and leader of Louisiana Tech's research efforts for the contract.
“[This] has the potential to revolutionize how we understand and engineer microbial systems, delivering real-world benefits for national security and beyond,” said Dr. Andrew Gardner, Principal Investigator of the SMS program at Radiance Technologies.
Bossier City Police report 6 thefts in 3 days: See where
Hour by hour. Day and night. This is BossierNow’s reporting of Bossier City Police Department incidents and arrests. This report covers the actions that occurred from September 13-15, 2025.
All persons named or shown are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
09/13/2025 01:33:00 Arrest 1100 block Mary Ann St Bossier City, La. D/P - Drunkenness (Misdemeanor). Black or African American, Male, Age 31.
09/13/2025 06:13:00 Incident 2500 block Palmetto Dr Bossier City, La. Theft From Building (Active).
09/13/2025 10:04:00 Incident 200 block Adair St Bossier City, La. Theft (Active).
09/13/2025 10:18:00 Incident 2100 block S Riverwood Loop Bossier City, La. Second Degree Robbery (Active).
09/13/2025 10:38:00 Incident 700 block Live Casino Blvd Bossier City, La. Theft From Building (Exceptionally Cleared).
09/13/2025 11:45:00 Incident 2500 block Lamar St Bossier City, La. Theft (Active).
09/14/2025 00:05:00 Citation 399 Kelly St/E Third St Bossier City. Pedestrians On Highways Or Interstate Highways. White or Caucasian, Female, Age 41.
09/14/2025 00:06:00 Incident 300 block Kelly St/E Third St Bossier City, La. Possession Schedule II (Cleared By Arrest/Adult).
09/14/2025 00:16:00 Incident 1700 block Old Minden Rd Bossier City, La. Simple Battery (Active).
09/14/2025 00:43:00 Arrest 300 block Kelly St/E Third St Bossier City, La. Possession Schedule I (Misdemeanor), Possession Schedule II (Felony), and Pedestrians On Highways Or Interstate Highways (Misdemeanor). Crystal R Jones, White or Caucasian, Female, Age 41.
09/14/2025 00:49:00 Incident 4900 block Barksdale Blvd Bossier City, La. D/P - Drunkenness (Cleared By Arrest/Adult).
09/14/2025 01:24:00 Arrest 4900 block Barksdale Blvd Bossier City. D/P - Drunkenness (Misdemeanor). Black or African American, Male, Age 59.
09/14/2025 01:33:00 Incident 500 block Thompson St Bossier City, La. Battery Of A Dating Partner (Exceptionally Cleared).
09/14/2025 02:19:00 Incident 1000 block Gould Dr Bossier City, La. D/P - Drunkenness (Cleared By Arrest/Adult).
09/15/2025 09:16:00 Incident 1500 block Barksdale Blvd Bossier City, La. Theft (Active).
09/15/2025 09:43:00 Incident 2500 block Viking Dr Bossier City, La. Possession Schedule I (Cleared By Arrest/Adult).
09/15/2025 09:48:00 Arrest 2000 block Airline Dr Bossier City, La. Child Desertion (Misdemeanor). White or Caucasian, Female, Age 23.
09/15/2025 10:00:00 Arrest 2500 block Viking Dr Bossier City, La. Possession Schedule I (Misdemeanor). White or Caucasian, Female, Age 40.
09/15/2025 11:26:00 Arrest 600 block Benton Rd Bossier City, La. Court Ordered Sentencing - Failure To Yield (Misdemeanor). White or Caucasian, Male, Age 49.
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