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Merry Christmas, Arkansans. Your electric bills are going up.

At year’s end, the Arkansas Public Service Commission is weighing nearly a dozen proposed power rate increases, and it’s widely expected to approve some form of most of them.

Entergy Arkansas, the state’s largest power company, serves about 735,000 homes and businesses. Their bills are sure to rise as the utility faces soaring demand tied to new data centers and the growing electrification of the economy.

It is also working to replace the power it will lose when it retires coal-burning generators in Redfield and Newark in 2028 and 2030.

This month, the PSC approved a contract between Entergy and Google to power a $4 billion data center planned in West Memphis.

Entergy will build a $1.6 billion solar and battery facility near Pine Bluff called Cypress Solar, which will generate 600 megawatts of power and store up to 350 megawatts.

Entergy hopes to pay for it through provisions of the Generating Arkansas Jobs Act of 2025, a new law that lets utilities pay for projects by billing customers as they are built, instead of waiting until they’re online. A regulatory decision is expected by March.

The law, supporters say, lets utilities promise electricity to power-hungry projects defined as “strategic investments” in the state.

In Google’s case, the strategic investment rate, or rider, would amount to 1.51% for the first year. But by the fifth year of the contract, the rate would be 6.24% higher.

Entergy says Google will bear the brunt of most costs, but details are being kept secret for competitive reasons. The commission asked Entergy to refile its proposal on how it plans to handle Google’s payments, but key portions of PSC filings are redacted.

Entergy also wants to raise rates about $2.85 per month for typical residential customers to finance a $1.6 billion natural gas-burning plant in Redfield, the proposed Jefferson Power Station. Regulators could rule on that request as early as next month. On top of the strategic investment riders, Entergy has filed for a 4.4% increase in its formula rate.

Lauren Waldrip, director of the Arkansas Advanced Energy Association, said insufficient resource planning contributed to the power plant pinch.

“Our utilities have been very clear that Arkansas does not have enough generation to meet today’s news, and that shortfall exists regardless of data center growth.”

Large-load customers make the gap more pressing, Waldrip added. “Under new legislation … Arkansas also lacks the protections other states have to shield businesses and households from cost-shifting tied to new generation,” she said.

“Arkansas needs every cost-effective and reliable megawatt we can bring online, as quickly as possible.”

The market itself is pushing for renewable options, Waldrip said. “I’m not saying that because it’s my job — companies are making that expectation clear long before they decide whether to invest here.”

Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. is expected to seek a strategic investment rate to build a $1 billion, 1-gigawatt gas burning plant in Naples, Texas. That plant could be operational by late 2028 or early 2029.

Southwestern Electric Power Co. of Shreveport, which serves about 130,000 meters in western and northwest Arkansas, has filed for two rate increases.

And Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. of Fort Smith has two strategic project cases pending that would affect its 69,000 Arkansas ratepayers.

Rulings on those projects could come this month or next.