Entergy Louisiana’s claim customers will save thanks to Meta deal greeted with some skepticism

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Meta is building a multi-billion dollar data center in northeast Louisiana and Entergy Louisiana is a huge part of the project’s equation.

“We did reach agreement with Meta to expand or have a new agreement, actually, for the data center at their Richland Parish site,” Phillip May, CEO of Entergy Louisiana told Fox 8 on Monday (March 30).

“This new agreement will require us to build seven new generators. Each of those generators will be about 750 megawatts each. So, about 5,200 megawatts of new, efficient, modern gas-fired generation.”

May pointed to other benefits.

“That generation will come with hydrogen capability and carbon-capture availability as well, as well as additional 2,500 megawatts of solar, three separate battery projects, and up rates on our nuclear plant,” May said.

May said the agreement with Meta ultimately will benefit Entergy Louisiana customers by $2 billion.

“This thing is structured to save our customers over $2 billion, over the life of the 20-year contract,” he said. “And Meta is fully paying for the cost associated with these assets over that 20-year period.”

He was asked how what Entergy plans to generate for Meta, in terms of megawatts, compares to what it is generating now for other customers.

“This amount of generation is about 50% more than is currently deployed by Entergy Louisiana,” May said.

But the deal concerns the utility watchdog Alliance for Affordable Energy.

“We haven’t had nearly enough time to review this most recent application, which, by the way, has a lot of redactions. So there’s an awful lot of information that the public, and certainly we, have not seen yet to really be able to analyze and say, indeed, all of these savings are going to come to fruition,” said Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy.

The group is concerned about what could happen in years to come.

“The way regulation works in the state of Louisiana is, once this infrastructure is approved to be built, is deemed prudent and in the public interest, it means that utilities will be able to recover those costs from whatever customers they have going forward. And if, in fact, Meta winds up no longer being a customer after 15 or 20 years, that’s billions of dollars in costs that ratepayers will be on the hook for,” Burke said.

Fox 8 asked May if Entergy Louisiana customers could end up paying more down the line as a result of the agreement.

“No. In fact, the opposite is true,” May said. “Our Entergy customers will see lower rates than what they otherwise would have been.”

The deal still needs approval from the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

“Well, the next thing that has to happen is a proper investigation,” Burke said. “The proceeding in which Entergy is filed for approval from the commission is underway now. It means that organizations like the Alliance and like the Public Service Commission have a responsibility to look at these books, to look at these agreements, and see if they are stable and what kinds of protections need to be put in place.”

May said he thinks approval could come before year’s end.

“The filing with the PSC has already occurred. I’m sure the LPSC will take it up, hire outside counsel in the things that they do, have a thorough investigation of this proposal,” May said. “We believe this could work through Louisiana Public Service Commission’s lightning initiative, that will allow it to be approved by the end of this year.”

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