Entergy customers’ bills to drop starting in April

Entergy Arkansas will decrease customer bills beginning with the April billing cycle. An average residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month will see a decrease of $10.01 in their total bills, a 7.5% decrease.

Commercial and industrial customers could see anywhere from a 1.6% to 17.7% decrease, depending on their customer usage profile. Entergy Arkansas, a subsidiary of New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., has about 730,000 customers in 63 Arkansas counties.

“Although our rates are consistently lower than the regional and national average, we continue to keep affordability for our customers at the forefront of our decisions,” said Ventrell Thompson, vice president of customer service. “The total decrease customers see on their bills will vary based on their individual energy usage but comes at a time when our customers need bill relief and will extend during the upcoming hot summer months.”

The decrease was prompted by a lower fuel rate, known as the Energy Cost Recovery Rider (ECR), which is adjusted and passed on to customers. The redetermined ECR rate will decrease from $0.01883 per kWh to $0.00882 per kWh – the lowest it has been in more than a decade.

Each year, the fuel rate adjusts either up or down, depending on changes in the cost of fuel used by Entergy Arkansas to generate electricity and wholesale prices paid for additional electricity. The new rate is effective until March of 2025, unless an interim adjustment is needed. It is reflected in the “Fuel and Purchased Cost” line item on monthly bills.

“Because we have a diverse fuel mix that includes nuclear, natural gas, coal, solar and hydropower, we are able to produce electricity at the lowest cost possible,” said William Cunningham, director of resource planning. “In fact, our consistently low rates help make our state an attractive place for new and existing businesses to grow and expand.”