Washington (Platts)--25Apr2011/759 am EDT/1159 GMT

Entergy plans to seek regulatory approval to join the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, choosing MISO over other options that have been the topic of debate for several years, Entergy said Monday.

Entergy's options for being part of a regional transmission organization (RTO) included joining MISO or the Southwest Power Pool, or enhancing the current independent coordinator of transmission (ICT) arrangement, where SPP serves as Entergy's ICT.

Consulting firms and others have done several cost/benefit analyses examining the options, but Entergy concluded that MISO is the best choice, with a key factor being MISO's so-called "Day 2" market, Entergy said. That market, a centralized dispatch process, creates a large wholesale market for buying and selling power. Entergy's own study found that joining MISO could save Entergy customers more than $1 billion in power production costs from 2013 to 2022.

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A recent analysis and plan for Entergy joining SPP found that Entergy customers would see benefits of about $38 million/year for the first 10 years of SPP membership, with other members of SPP seeing benefits of about $32 million/year. Numerous analyses have been done, with higher figures for benefits based on allocation of transmission costs and other factors.

Entergy's utilities operate in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, and the company has worked with state regulators to evaluate options for joining an RTO.

The different Entergy operating companies will provide details supporting the study. The steps needed to join MISO will be undertaken in the months ahead, with the various Entergy companies filing with state regulators in May. It plans to join MISO, assuming state and federal regulatory approval, in December 2013.

"As the analysis showed, MISO's substantial scale and established market made it the clear choice for customer benefits," said Wayne Leonard, Entergy's chairman and CEO.

If Entergy's plan to join MISO is approved by regulators, the geographic reach of MISO would extend from the Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, Entergy said.

--Tom Tiernan, tom_tiernan@platts.com