Entergy CEO: Climate Change Top Issue For Industry

In an interview afterward, Leonard said that the utility still intends to shed part of its nuclear division, but the meltdown on Wall Street has slowed progress. He said the company will decide later whether to spin off its nuclear plants that generate free-market electricity or opt for another type of transaction.

He also said the utility is moving forward with Entergy Arkansas' move to opt out of Entergy's system agreement among its electric utilities. That shift required eight years' notice and is to take place in 2018. A ruling that shifted operating costs from Entergy users in Louisiana to Entergy Arkansas customers prompted the move.

Entergy's first-quarter earnings, announced Monday, were down 24 percent from a year before, but the company maintained its 2009 earnings outlook in the range between $6.70 per share and $7.30 per share.

Leonard said the company has been criticized by investors for not having enough industrial customers, but that lack of factories in its region helped soften the blow from the economic downturn.

"We haven't seen the kind of economic meltdown of our customer base that some others have had," Leonard said.