Entergy Texas undergoing review following winter storms
Mar. 5—Texans could be paying for last month's historic winter storm for years.
As millions of Texans shivered in dark, cold homes for nearly a week in much of the state, residents in Southeast Texas fared much better. Much of the region is powered by Entergy Texas, which provides electricity to approximately 461,000 customers in 27 counties.
For rate-regulated electric utilities in Texas, such as Entergy Texas, the law requires that rates be set at a level that will permit the utility to recover its reasonable and necessary operating expenses as well as an opportunity to earn a reasonable return on the investments used to provide service to the public. Those operating expenses include fuel, purchased power and the costs of personnel and supplies needed to provide reliable and economic service to customers.
Company officials say that they are currently conducting a thorough post-event review, which will include further investments into grid resiliency — those investments that help adapt and quickly respond to impacts to the system.
According to city of Huntsville attorney Leonard Schneider, the city has jurisdiction to set rates for Entergy within its municipal boundaries, but city ordinances are almost always appealed to the Public Utility Commission, so ultimately rates are set by the state agency. He also noted that there is also not a single PUC order setting Entergy's rates since Entergy has several riders that are set separately from base rates.
BENEFITS OF A REGULATED MARKET
In the early 2010s, Entergy Texas determined that joining Midcontinent Independent System Operator would allow them to better serve customers by being a part of a larger pool of capacity and energy. MISO comprises a pool of electricity generators and users that stretches from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and as reliability coordinator is responsible for planning and monitoring the portion of the electric grid it oversees and providing instructions to its members regarding actions needed to maintain reliability in that portion of the grid.
MISO membership benefits our customers in a variety of ways. First, participation in the vast MISO pool offers enhanced reliability to each member, as compared to what it could achieve operating on its own. MISO also administers and operates an organized power market that allows Entergy to buy and sell wholesale energy more efficiently and reliably.
"MISO is committed to reliability, the nondiscriminatory operation of the bulk power transmission system and to collaborating with stakeholders on creating cost-effective and innovative solutions to meet future needs," Entergy officials noted. "In the MISO region, while many customers did lose power, we did not see the same kind of sustained price spikes or the same level of outages that affected the ERCOT region for much of the past week.
"While there will not be huge price spikes in energy bills, it is important for customers to recognize that these extremely cold temperatures will drive increased consumption of electricity, which can result in a higher bill. However, Entergy Texas is committed to working with any customer who was affected by this storm."
