Entergy Arkansas officials today filed a report with the Arkansas Public Service Commission outlining the expected benefits of the company joining the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO).
The company announced its intent to join MISO, a regional transmission organization serving 13 states, in late April.
Entergy Arkansas anticipates formally asking the PSC for approval later this year to transfer operational control of its transmission facilities to MISO with a target implementation date of December 2013.
Entergy Arkansas President and CEO Hugh McDonald told Talk Business in April that he expected to save close to a billion dollars over the next 10 years just in production cost savings.
"We evaluated – based on the alternatives – that moving to MISO that has a mature, certain Day 2 market is going to provide our customers more benefits over a billion dollars over the next 10 years just in production cost savings," McDonald said at the time.
In today’s filing, Entergy projected net benefits of between $192 million and $263 million from 2013 to 2022 by joining MISO. The projected net benefits are the estimated production cost-related savings, minus increased administrative and transmission costs. Today’s disclosure also included a projection from Entergy that it would save $163 million to $221 million if it joined Southwest Power Pool (SPP), another regional transmission operator based in Little Rock.
“I’m confident that our participation in MISO will bring many advantages to our customers. MISO’s established Day 2 Market, which effectively and economically matches supply and demand, is a critical factor in our determination,” McDonald said today.
Entergy Arkansas has been studying how it will participate in electricity transmission after it transfers from its current system agreement with its parent company, Entergy Corp., to a more independent operation by the end of 2013. Entergy Arkansas studied joining SPP, MISO, or becoming a stand-alone operating company. It abandoned the pursuit of a new system agreement in April 2010 in an effort to mollify state regulators.
