Can’t make it in person? The meeting will be livestreamed on the Council’s website/youtube channel: council.nola.gov.
The Council will vote on Entergy New Orleans’ request to extend its electric and gas formula rate plans (FRPs) through the years 2024, 2025, and 2026 (docket UD-18-07) – which was approved by the Council’s Utility Committee last week. A Formula Rate Plan (FRP) is a ratemaking method in which a utility adjusts its base rates outside of a general rate case, over a set number of years, in this case 3 years.
Entergy’s current FRP was initially approved in November 2019 (Resolution R-19-457) and modified in July 2020 (R-20-213), and again in September of this year (Resolution R-23-423) to raise rates. While utility rates are traditionally set in a rate case, to avoid the lengthy process, Entergy is opting to extend their current FRP for another 3 years. The Alliance does not oppose the Council’s plan to extend this FRP another 3 years. We believe a full rate proceeding at this time would likely cost customers even more due to inflation and other market realities. That being said, New Orleans ratepayers, who struggle under one of the highest energy burdens in the nation while receiving receiving terribly unreliable service, cannot abide regular, rote approvals of rate increases. At the next opportunity for a ratemaking proceeding, the Council must assert its full regulatory authority to thoroughly scrutinize ENO’s corporate culture and practices.
