BATON ROUGE - Entergy announced Thursday it will add an additional charge to customers' bills for the next five months to make up for heightened costs associated with February's deep freeze.

Entergy blamed the charges on higher prices for natural gas at the time, which is used to operate many of its power-generating facilities.

"As a result of the higher gas pricing and volumes used to create more electricity, recoverable fuel costs for the month of April would have been approximately $45 more than in March for a typical residential customer consuming 1,000 kWh."

The company said it will be dividing that cost up over the next five pay periods, meaning an additional $9 charge on average for customers in their April-August bills.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission will audit the fuel costs, according to Entergy.

It comes as a special auditor looks into claims that many residents reported skyrocketing bills after Entergy began installing its new smart meters. You can read the latest 2 On Your Side report here.