Louisiana PSC approves Entergy’s bid to join MISO

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana Public Service Commission has approved Entergy Louisiana, LLC’s and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, LLC’s proposal to join a large regional transmission organization.

The LPSC unanimously approved the joint application of the two companies to join the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator Inc. or MISO. Louisiana is the first state in which approval has been given to Entergy operating companies to transfer functional control of their transmission facilities to the RTO. Subject to carefully considered conditions, the proposed integration into MISO is expected to occur in December 2013.

Each of the six utility operating company subsidiaries of Entergy Corporation, which do business in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Orleans and Texas, has filed for similar approval with its respective regulator to join MISO.

“The LPSC’s determination…confirms over two years of study and analysis on the part of our companies and many others,” said Bill Mohl, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana.  ”Working with our commission through this matter has been an important and critical step in seeing that our companies meet the future energy needs of our customers in a reliable and affordable manner.”