PSC Approves Final Petition To Intervene In Entergy Rate Case
by July 16, 2015 7:07 pm 138 views
The Arkansas Public Service Commission (PSC) has granted special status for Scenic Hill Solar LLC to intervene in Entergy Arkansas Inc.’s $167 million rate case “on the condition that it participate in this proceeding as a single and united intervenor with AAEA and Sierra Club,” the panel stated in a recent filing.
“Having multiple entities participating as separate intervenors protecting essentially the same rights and interests in this proceeding would be administratively and judicially inefficient,” PSC Chairman Ted Thomas wrote in the nine-page order on Monday, which was also signed by Commissioners Elana Wills and Lamar Davis.
In its 137-page filing in late April, the state’s largest utility makes its case to recover $167 million in new revenue that it said is largely driven by costs to upgrade the power grid and purchase the 495-megawatt power plant Union Power Station near El Dorado for $948 million in December.
If approved, the adjustment would change the monthly bill of a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatts per hour (kWh) by nearly $13.00 or 45 cents a day. The case is filed under PSC Docket 15-015-u.
Scenic Hill’s request to participate in the Entergy rate is the final intervenor petition before the commission. In its June 23 petition to the PSC, the recently incorporated limited liability company stated that it had solar projects ‘in development’ in various locations in Arkansas.
To date, the list of intervenors include Arkansas Electric Energy Consumers Inc., the Federal Executive Agencies (FEA), grocery giant Kroger Co., the Hospitals and Higher Education Group (HHEH), Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Evergreen Packaging Inc., AAEA, the Sierra Club and Scenic Hill.
A public evidentiary hearing on Entergy Arkansas’ rate filing request will be held January 19, 2016, at the PSC’s headquarters in downtown Little Rock.
Additional public comment hearings will be conducted in Batesville and El Dorado on Jan. 26 and Jan. 28, respectively.