Texas regulators reject settlement to hike Entergy Texas' rates; hearing to be held

摘要

Entergy Texas' year-long effort to secure regulatory approval for its first base-rate increase in 17 years was set back last week when the Public Utility Commission of Texas rejected a non-unanimous settlement proposal that the utility reached with several intervenors. The PUC remanded the matter back to the State Office of Administrative Hearings and asked that administrative law judges there hold a hearing by early December on the merits of Entergy Texas' original proposal for a $107.5-million or 11% rate increase (EUW, 1 Oct '07, 19). Entergy Texas, which serves about 395,000 customers in southeastern Texas, has argued that a rate hike is needed to ensure that the utility has sufficient revenue to support ongoing improvements to its grid. While it is authorized to earn a 10.95% rate of return, in recent years its actual ROE has been less than 8%, it said.