Entergy Arkansas Files Response to MISO Order

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Aug. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Entergy Arkansas, Inc. filed testimony with the Arkansas Public Service Commission today affirming its commitment to join the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator or MISO. Testimony responding to the commission's August 3 order is expected to be filed by MISO in short order.

The commission identified 19 conditions that Entergy Arkansas and MISO must satisfy in order for it to grant conditional approval of the company's move to MISO. All 19 are addressed in testimony submitted by Hugh McDonald, president and chief executive officer of Entergy Arkansas, Inc. Extensive analysis completed by Entergy and confirmed by outside consultants has shown that joining MISO is the right choice for the company and its customers.

"The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the APSC, the company and interveners agree that Entergy Arkansas' membership in a regional transmission organization is the right choice when it exits the Entergy System Agreement in December 2013," McDonald said. "We are ready to move to MISO and our plan for complying with each of the commission's conditions fully addresses the concerns underlying them. Our compliance plan is practical and achievable."

The deadline for moving to a regional transmission organization is driven by Entergy Arkansas' 2005 decision to exit the current power pooling arrangement with the other Entergy utilities. The company must have an alternate process in place to provide electric service by December 19, 2013.

"We spent a lot of time examining our options and concluded that MISO is the best option for our state in a post-System Agreement world," McDonald said. "We are ready to move ahead with the integration into MISO to begin capturing the benefits for our customers."

MISO is the oldest and one of the largest regional transmission organizations in the country. Joining MISO is projected to save Entergy Arkansas' customers a quarter of a billion dollars in the first decade of operations alone.

Entergy Arkansas, Inc. provides electricity to 700,000 customers in 63 counties. It is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including more than 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power, making it one of the nation's leading nuclear generators. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and approximately 15,000 employees.

Entergy's online address is entergy-arkansas.com

Twitter: @EntergyArk

Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There are factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including (a) those factors discussed in: (i) Entergy Corporation's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011; (ii) Entergy Corporation's Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2012 and June 30, 2012; and (iii) Entergy Corporation's other reports and filings made under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; (b) uncertainties associated with rate proceedings, formula rate plans and other cost recovery mechanisms; (c) uncertainties associated with efforts to remediate the effects of major storms and recover related restoration costs; (d) nuclear plant relicensing, operating and regulatory risks, including any changes resulting from the nuclear crisis in Japan following its catastrophic earthquake and tsunami; (e) legislative and regulatory actions and risks and uncertainties associated with claims or litigation by or against Entergy Corporation and its subsidiaries; (f) conditions in commodity and capital markets during the periods covered by the forward-looking statements, in addition to other factors described elsewhere in this release and subsequent securities filings, and (g) risks inherent in the proposed spin-off and subsequent merger of Entergy Corporation's electric transmission business with a subsidiary of ITC Holdings Corp. Entergy Corporation cannot provide any assurances that the spin-off and merger transaction will be completed and cannot give any assurance as to the terms on which such transaction will be consummated. The spin-off and merger transaction is subject to certain conditions precedent, including regulatory approvals and approval by ITC Holdings Corp. shareholders.

SOURCE Entergy Arkansas, Inc.