Entergy subsidiary forced to refund $160M to Louisiana customers

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this week handed down a pair of decisions that will force a subsidiary of Entergy to refund customers millions of dollars, according to an announcement from the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

The FERC’s decisions resolve a long-running dispute between the utility and regulators over whether it collected more from customers than it should have as part of accounting practices related to its Mississippi nuclear plant, and if so, how much it owes those customers.

SERI failed to reduce its rate base for taxes it collected from consumers but did not pay to the government because of an “uncertain” tax deduction, according to the announcement. This deduction was for the future cost of decommissioning the Grand Gulf nuclear power plant in Port Gibson, Mississippi.

The FERC came to the conclusion that the Entergy subsidiary overcharged customers for more than two decades and has ordered the company to refund roughly $160 million to Entergy Louisiana customers, $190 million to customers served by Entergy New Orleans, and $241 million to Entergy Arkansas customers.

The initial decision was made by a FERC administrative law judge in 2020 and ordered SERI to pay $334 million in refunds plus interest, on the uncertain tax deduction, but the final decision didn’t come down until Dec. 23. The FERC also altered the order to include additional refunds for items omitted from the first decision’s calculations. See the announcement.