Under pressure, Entergy looks to mitigate cost of $1.8B Texas gas plant purchase

Entergy is trying to soften the bill impact of a $1.8 billion deal to buy a Texas gas-fired power plant called Cottonwood, a purchase the utility says will help serve growing electricity demand from data centers, steel mills, LNG facilities, and petrochemical plants in Louisiana. The purchase needs approval from Louisiana regulators, and a state staff review found it could add roughly $7 a month to a bill for a customer using 1,000 kWh a month. That finding, plus questions about whether Meta's planned data centers should shoulder more of the cost, has put the deal under scrutiny, and one Wall Street analyst says it's "increasingly in doubt."

Entergy's CEO says the plant, while not new, is the most economical option available for meeting demand from both data centers and other industrial customers, and the company hopes to close the purchase by January. Entergy also points to its separate deal with Meta, saying the tech company will cover grid upgrade and maintenance costs that are expected to save residential and small-business customers more than $2.65 billion over the next 20 years.

For homeowners, this is a reminder that big data center and industrial growth in a utility's service area can show up on residential bills, depending on how regulators divide the costs. If you get power from Entergy in Louisiana or Texas, this deal is one to watch as it moves through the regulatory process, since the outcome could affect what you pay, though no rate change has been decided yet.