India, May 26 -- Over 100,000 Entergy New Orleans customers across the Eastbank, St. Bernard Parish, and Metairie were plunged into darkness Sunday afternoon due to a widespread power outage. Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) load shed order caused the outage, which began around 4:30 PM CDT, affecting more than 52,000 customers in Orleans Parish, 36,000 in Jefferson Parish, 6,000 in St. Bernard Parish, and 6,500 in Plaquemines Parish, according to Entergy's outage map.

The cause, revealed as a deliberate load shed to prevent grid overload, has sparked frustration due to minimal notice.

Load shedding, as defined by PowerOutage.us, is an intentional power cut to balance supply and demand when the grid nears capacity. Entergy...