State PSC reaches $300 million settlement with Entergy

Entergy customers may be seeing $80 credits in their bills in the coming months thanks to a settlement the Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) reached with Entergy Mississippi Thursday. They will also know utility rate increases scheduled for early next year won’t occur.  

A $300 million settlement was reached and signed by PSC commissioners in Jackson. 

The unanimous, bipartisan settlement will produce cash payments or bill credits to Entergy Mississippi’s 461,000 customers, along with mitigation of future rate increases caused by volatile global energy markets.

Thursday’s settlement represents the Public Service Commission’s largest cash settlement in state history.

According to a news release from the PSC, the case goes back to 2017, when the Commission began litigation before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding certain accounting and financing aspects of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station that produced today’s settlement. 

This global settlement for the State of Mississippi will deliver expeditious benefits to Energy Mississippi’s customers through refunds and prospective rate reductions, plus decrease regulatory uncertainty at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station.

The results of the Settlement include:

• Producing roughly a total of $300 million in benefits for Energy Mississippi customers
• $200 million will be used to offset high natural prices caused by global spikes in energy markets.

Without infusion of this $200 million, Entergy Mississippi customers would have seen an over $15 dollar a month increase beginning in January 2023.

“I thank my colleagues and the Commission’s staff for the hard work that resulted in this historic settlement,” said Northern District PSC Commissioner Brandon Presley. “To be able to send cash back to Mississippians at a time when they are being hit with high gasoline prices at the pump and inflation at every turn is one of my proudest achievements as a Public Service Commissioner.”

The complete news release is available on the Public Service Commission website.