Entergy customers to get fuel adjustment refund
Groveton News - November 2007

    Beaumont, Texas – The ever-changing price of natural gas is once again proving a boon to Entergy Texas customers, with the company planning to give customers their second fuel-related refund in eight months.

   Entergy Texas filed an application in October with the Public Utility Commission of Texas in which they proposed giving the $45.6 million refund over a six-month period beginning in February. The PUCT will review the plan and could ask the company to change the refund schedule.

   If Entergy’s proposal is accepted by the PUCT, customers would receive an $8.03 per month credit to their bills for six months, which represents a 7.1 percent decrease in the bill.

    In July and August of this year, customers were refunded a total of $109 million. The refund took about $36 per month off each month’s average 1,000 kilowatt-hour bill.

   Fuel costs are a pass-through charge to Entergy customers, meaning the company makes no profit on them. And although fuel prices fluctuate daily, the formula under which the company’s -more- costs are recovered calls for adjustments to be made only periodically. If fuel prices rise over a lengthy period of time, as they did immediately following hurri-canes Katrina and Rita, customers may find themselves paying a surcharge to make up the difference. More recently, however, Entergy’s costs for fuel have been declining, leading to the refund.

    Entergy Texas provides electricity to 385,000 customers in 26 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, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.6 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of over $10 billion and approximately 14,000 employ-ees.

      Entergy Texas’ Web site is www.entergy-texas.com