Texas Commission Focuses Approval of Entergy Texas MISO Membership on Exit from System Agreement

Commissioners of the Public Utility Commission of Texas have agreed on a set of conditions under which they would approve Entergy Texas, Inc.'s application to transfer operational control of its assets to the Midwest ISO.

The Commissioners reached consensus on the conditions at a Friday meeting, and gave Entergy Texas, Inc., Entergy Services, Inc., and Entergy Corporation an opportunity to consent to the conditions. An order will be brought before the Commission at its October 25 open meeting.

Most notably, Commissioners agreed that they would only allow Entergy Texas to join MISO while still part of the Entergy System Agreement if Entergy Services, Inc., and Entergy Corporation agree to join the provisions of a stipulation concerning the system agreement; namely, that Entergy Services, Inc., and Entergy Corporation agree to use their best efforts to shorten the timeframe for Entergy Texas to exit the system agreement (which currently is 96 months).

The Entergy System Agreement includes, among other things, central planning and operation among the Entergy operating companies, and allocates various costs, including those related to generation and capacity, among the Entergy operating companies.

Moreover, to the extent Entergy Services, Inc., and Entergy Corporation do not agree to join this provision of the stipulation, Commissioners agreed that Entergy Texas may not join MISO, or sign the transmission owners agreement, unless and until Entergy Texas has exited the system agreement.

The Commission would also condition approval on the future satisfactory resolution of the allocation Auction Revenue Rights.

The Commission would also adopt a host of other conditions from a stipulation, including conditioning Entergy Texas' membership in MISO as a transmission owner on confirmation that all the other Entergy operating companies will be integrated into the MISO RTO by December 19, 2013

Docket: 40346