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19 Conditions Identified and Addressed
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Entergy Arkansas,
Inc. filed testimony with the Arkansas Public Service Commission today affirming
its commitment to join the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator or
MISO. Testimony responding to the commission’s August 3 order is expected to be
filed by MISO in short order.
The commission identified 19
conditions that Entergy Arkansas and MISO must satisfy in order for it to grant
conditional approval of the company’s move to MISO. All 19 are addressed in
testimony submitted by Hugh McDonald, president and chief executive officer of
Entergy Arkansas, Inc. Extensive analysis completed by Entergy and confirmed by
outside consultants has shown that joining MISO is the right choice for the
company and its customers.
“The Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, the APSC, the company and interveners agree that Entergy Arkansas’
membership in a regional transmission organization is the right choice when it
exits the Entergy System Agreement in December 2013,” McDonald said. “We are
ready to move to MISO and our plan for complying with each of the commission’s
conditions fully addresses the concerns underlying them. Our compliance plan is
practical and achievable.”
The deadline for moving to a regional
transmission organization is driven by Entergy Arkansas’ 2005 decision to exit
the current power pooling arrangement with the other Entergy utilities. The
company must have an alternate process in place to provide electric service by
December 19, 2013.
“We spent a lot of time examining our
options and concluded that MISO is the best option for our state in a
post-System Agreement world,” McDonald said. “We are ready to move ahead with
the integration into MISO to begin capturing the benefits for our customers.”
MISO is the oldest and one of the
largest regional transmission organizations in the country. Joining MISO is
projected to save Entergy Arkansas’ customers a quarter of a billion dollars in
the first decade of operations alone.
Entergy Arkansas, Inc. provides
electricity to 700,000 customers in 63 counties. It is a subsidiary of Entergy
Corporation. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged
primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations.
Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of
electric generating capacity, including more than 10,000 megawatts of nuclear
power, making it one of the nation’s leading nuclear generators. Entergy
delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana,
Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and
approximately 15,000 employees.
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entergy-arkansas.com
Twitter: @EntergyArk
In
this news release, and from time to time, Entergy Arkansas, Inc. makes certain
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Except to the extent required by the federal
securities laws, Entergy Arkansas undertakes no obligation to publicly update or
revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise.
Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There
are factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including (a) those
factors discussed in: (i) Entergy Corporation’s Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2011; (ii) Entergy Corporation’s Form 10-Q for the quarters ended
March 31, 2012 and June 30, 2012; and (iii) Entergy Corporation’s other reports
and filings made under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; (b) uncertainties
associated with rate proceedings, formula rate plans and other cost recovery
mechanisms; (c) uncertainties associated with efforts to remediate the effects
of major storms and recover related restoration costs; (d) nuclear plant
relicensing, operating and regulatory risks, including any changes resulting
from the nuclear crisis in Japan following its catastrophic earthquake and
tsunami; (e) legislative and regulatory actions and risks and uncertainties
associated with claims or litigation by or against Entergy Corporation and its
subsidiaries; (f) conditions in commodity and capital markets during the periods
covered by the forward-looking statements, in addition to other factors
described elsewhere in this release and subsequent securities filings, and (g)
risks inherent in the proposed spin-off and subsequent merger of Entergy
Corporation’s electric transmission business with a subsidiary of ITC Holdings
Corp. Entergy Corporation cannot provide any assurances that the spin-off and
merger transaction will be completed and cannot give any assurance as to the
terms on which such transaction will be consummated. The spin-off and merger
transaction is subject to certain conditions precedent, including regulatory
approvals and approval by ITC Holdings Corp. shareholders.