Entergy Arkansas seeking to sign up with Midwest ISO in 2012

Entergy Arkansas announced on Monday that it is looking to bring all six of its operating companies into the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) in late- 2013, when its current system agreement expires.

“After a long and thorough process of reviewing available options, it became clear that joining MISO is the best choice for our customers,” said Entergy Arkansas President and Chief Executive Officer Hugh McDonald. “Today’s announcement follows Entergy Arkansas’ 2005 commitment to terminate its participation in the System Agreement in 2013, ending the equalization payments Entergy Arkansas customers have paid since 2007 and thereby reducing the price they pay for energy. After a comprehensive analysis, we have concluded that this is the best approach for continuing to provide reliable electric service at reasonable cost once the company’s participation in the System Agreement has ended.

“I’m confident that our participation in MISO will bring many advantages to our customers, due largely to a mature day-ahead wholesale power market with access to a larger and more diverse pool of generation resources,” he added. “We will continue to work closely with the Arkansas Public Service Commission as they consider this important matter.”

Currently half of the electricity generated by MISO members is in the form of coal-fired power plants, followed by natural gas at 22%, 7% from nuclear and 5% from wind farms. Entergy Arkansas Inc supplies electricity to 687,000 customers in 63 counties and its parent company, Entergy Corporation owns and operates 30GW of generating capacity and is the second largest nuclear generator in the US.