Entergy Arkansas Reaches Deal With Coal Plants Over MISO Integration

Entergy Arkansas Inc. said Friday that it is one step closer to its planned integration with the Midwest Independent System Transmission Operator, or MISO.

The utility said it reached an agreement with co-owner coal generating plants regarding how those plants will operate after the integration, planned for December 2013.

"We have spent a lot of time over the last few months talking with stakeholders about the potential impact of this decision on their customers as well as on our own," Hugh McDonald, president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas, said in a news release. "Revisiting our existing agreements with the co-owners is a key step in the planning process."

If the MISO integration is approved by the Arkansas Public Service Commission, the agreement will extend participation benefits to the co-owner utilities.

"This is a mutually beneficial arrangement that ensures we will fully utilize the capacity we own in the coal plants and have access to lower cost energy in the MISO regional market," Ron Bowen, manager of Jonesboro’s City Water and Light utility, said. "It’s a win-win situation." 

MISO, of Carmel, Ind., is an independent, nonprofit, regional transmission organization that supports electricity delivery in 11 states.

Entergy Corp. announced in April that its operating units – Entergy Arkansas, Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, Entergy Louisiana, Entergy Mississippi, Entergy New Orleans and Entergy Texas – would join MISO. The deal would expand MISO’s footprint from the Canadian Border to the Gulf of Mexico.

Entergy Arkansas officials expect its access to MISO’s "Day 2" market for buying and selling wholesale electricity to save its customers some $1 billion over 10 years.

Entergy Arkansas, a subsidiary of Entergy Corp. of New Orleans, provides electricity to more than 692,000 customers in 63 counties in Arkansas. Publicly traded Entergy Corp. delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.