April 10, 2009

Arkansas lawmakers finished their 88-day regular session Thursday. A series of measures recommended by the Governor's Commission on Global Warming did not get passed. Other energy bills that did not pass:

* Rep. Kathy Webb's bill to require electric utilities to buy at least 2 percent of their annual electricity supplies from a renewable energy facility was voted down by the House Insurance and Commerce Committee

* A bill by Rep. Tiffany Rogers, D-Stuttgart, to require all diesel fuel sold at public retail facilities in Arkansas to contain a 5 percent biodiesel blend hit a roadblock before the Joint Energy Committee and Rogers eventually referred it to interim study.

[Source: Jill Zeman (AP writer), "Helmets, global-warming bills die in Ark. session", The Associated Press State & Local Wire, April 10, 2009 9:02 am GMT]

June 12, 2003

Who should benefit from low cost of Arkansas Nuclear One?

Louisiana Public Service Commission filed a contention last week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, arguing that Entergy should not charge such significantly higher rates in Louisiana as compared with the rates Entergy charges in Arkansas. The power generated in Louisiana is mainly from natural gas-fueled plants. Arkansas plants are mostly coal and nuclear. Natural gas prices are way up over the past three years. Louisiana wants Arkansas customers to pay $200-million to $400-million per year of the higher bills expected by Louisiana customers in near future. Entergy and Arkansas think Arkansas should continue to benefit from their choice made amongst competing generating methods, just as they bore the higher capital costs involved with those choices. Louisiana notes that FERC has previosly held that Entergy should keep production costs at its regulated subsidiaries "roughly equal". There's still room for disagreement. Entergy says if you look at the costs over a long period of time, like the 1986-2010 "System Agreement" period, the costs are roughly equal. Louisiana says that use of a 12-month period for comparison is the method Entergy has used in the past, and argues it is unreasonable to switch to 20-yr method now.