Up With MISO, Down With ITC

Another two-year deal going on concurrent with the MISO transition was Entergy Corp.’s attempt to sell its transmission lines to ITC Holdings Inc. of Novi, Mich.

While MISO, the Midwest Independent Regional Transmission System Operator, will be operating the lines, Entergy still technically owns 15,800 miles of physical lines in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy wanted to dump that responsibility entirely, and in December 2011 it chose ITC as its recipient.

ITC would have paid $1.78 billion for the lines, and the deal was expected to be completed by the end of this year.

But like the MISO deal, the ITC transaction needed approval both from the state and federal level.

And this time, it’s not quite working out.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave its approval to the sale in June, but last Tuesday “we got an order from the [Mississippi Public Service Commission] that denied the ITC transaction,” said Hugh McDonald, CEO of Entergy Arkansas Inc.

“They did not believe it was in the public’s interest,” he said. “We’re obviously disappointed, but we’re evaluating the order itself and working with ITC to determine what the next steps are.”

McDonald said it’s “too early” to determine if the deal is completely dead, but at the moment, it looks like Entergy might be stuck with real estate it’s not technically using.

(Back to Entergy’s MISO Move Finishes as Company Celebrates its 100th Anniversary)