AWS: Good for Mississippi, great for Entergy customers

• Entergy CEO Haley Fisackerly says Mississippi’s existing customers’ future bills will be substantially lower than they otherwise would have been if AWS had not come to Mississippi. 

Entergy is excited that the AWS deal – the largest economic development win in Mississippi history and one of the largest such projects in the entire country in 2024 – landed in our service area. That January, one of the world’s leading high-tech companies chose to invest $10 billion in our state to create some of its largest data center campuses on the globe. It is creating 2,700 high-paying direct and indirect Mississippi jobs, generating unprecedented levels of local and state tax revenue, and enlisting a new corporate philanthropy partner to help fund schools, hospitals, charities and non-profits across our state. And it came just in time. 

Many years ago, we identified the need to strengthen our aging power grid to meet increasing customer expectations for reliability. And as early as 2021, we identified a need to replace roughly one third of our power generating facilities that are at or near retirement age. These improvements are necessary to maintain the reliability of the power grid. However, the costs would have fallen on a stagnant customer base, with more than 20% of our customers at or below the national poverty level. But with AWS, their bills will not only cover the cost needed to serve them, but it will also cover nearly 50% of the grid improvement costs that would have impacted residential customer bills. 

The more large industrial customers like AWS on the grid, the better for residential customers. This is because large customers are paying a larger share of the power generation and grid costs that everyone uses. They use a great deal of electricity, so their bills are proportionately higher. This is also why their rates are appropriately lower than for smaller customers. Essentially, if they were not sharing the grid costs with their higher bills, residential and business customers alone would bear all grid expenses.  

For years, Entergy Mississippi worked closely with the State of Mississippi to recruit AWS to our state. That deal was ultimately reached with the Governor and approved by an almost unanimous vote of the Legislature. We agreed with the Governor’s, and legislative leaders’ insistence that AWS must not harm our existing customers. The Legislature ensured that the energy price being charged to AWS must “provide other customers of [Entergy Mississippi] with an economic benefit….” (S.B. 2001 lines 6576-77). We designed the AWS pricing consistent with other past special contracts so AWS would be paying the costs of the facilities that are being built to serve them – and chipping in to support the part of the grid that serves everyone else. Because of these legislative protections, Entergy 

Mississippi’s existing customers’ future bills will be substantially lower than they otherwise would have been if AWS had not come to Mississippi.  

When recruiting large economic development projects, like Nissan and Continental, the amount that large customers pay for their electricity is proprietary information because it affects their costs to produce their product – in the case of AWS, computing services. This is well-documented in law and a common practice across the country. Entergy Mississippi has a long-standing policy not to publicly share the energy usage or bill information of ANY of our customers – including anyone reading this column. We are dedicated to protecting our customers and communities.  

The Legislature also ensured that the Mississippi Public Service Commission retains the authority to review Entergy Mississippi’s project costs related to AWS and exclude from electric rates any costs that are not prudent or necessary. Lines 6703-04 of Senate Bill 2001 state, “The Commission shall rule … on the prudence of costs” submitted by Entergy Mississippi. Lines 6704-08 describe what happens “[i]n any case where costs are found to be imprudent or otherwise disallowed…” by the PSC. These protections were critically important when S.B. 2001 was vetted by the Governor, the 172-member Legislature and the three elected commissioners of the MPSC. This continued oversight by the PSC will ensure that customers don’t experience unnecessary or excessive bill impacts.  

Thanks to AWS joining the grid, Entergy Mississippi can now build newer, more fuel-efficient power plants sooner than expected; build out new transmission lines to increase power reliability; and strengthen the power grid for more extreme weather to reduce outages — all at a lower ultimate cost to residential customers. Your power bill will fluctuate month-to month based on things like your usage, fuel costs, other infrastructure investments and storm restoration, but in the years to come AWS will be a force pulling bills down – not up. 

Because of the forward thinking of local and state leaders, Mississippi is proving that when properly planned, data centers provide a net benefit to all customers. AWS is the type of technology investment that will help retain the next generation of Mississippians and transform our state for the better. AWS is a good deal for Mississippi…and a great one for Entergy Mississippi customers.