On Dec. 4, the commission found that Entergy Louisiana, an affiliate of the parent company, Entergy Corp., improperly recovered through its fuel adjustment clause non-fuel costs.
These costs included non-fuel operation, maintenance expenses and “hypothetical SO2 allowance costs.” Hood said these hypothetical costs were disallowed from January 2002 to the present.
“This is just another example of how Entergy pads it bills,” Hood said in a statement. “Our complain alleges that they have padded their bills with these hypothetical S02 allowance costs. We intend to make them stop this improper conduct and give this money back to ratepayers, just like they were required to do in Louisiana.”
Joey Lee, spokesman for Entergy Mississippi Inc., responded that Hood is only telling part of the story. For starters, “This happened in Louisiana, not in Mississippi, and they’re not related,” Lee said.
In both Mississippi and Louisiana, customers are charged both a base rate and a fuel adjustment rate, which represents the actual fuel costs.
Lee said the Louisiana PSC found that Entergy Louisiana charged for certain costs that should have charged on the base rate instead of the fuel adjustment rate.
“There were no overcharges,” he said. “The charges were simply in the wrong place.”
Clarion Ledger
12/23/8
Magnolia Tribune
