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SPP's Western Expansion Set for Implementation on April 1

LCG, March 13, 2026--The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) announced yesterday that leaders from the participating organizations voted unanimously to proceed as planned with expanding its regional transmission organization (RTO) services into the Western Interconnection. SPP sees the decision to proceed as planned as a strong signal of confidence as SPP and its partner utilities prepare for this key milestone, which will occur overnight between March 31 and April 1.

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Entergy Estimates Customer Savings of $5B from "Fair Share Plus" Data Center Agreements

LCG, March 6, 2026--Entergy yesterday announced approximately $5 billion in total savings for 2.3 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi resulting from data center customer agreements in those states. Entergy, which completed its first data center customer agreement in 2024, projects the customer savings over the next 20 years and after the regulatory approval or acknowledgement of the public service commissions in those states.

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Industry News

Agriculture Group Backs PG&E Hydro Plan; Independent Power Producers Don’t Like It

LCG, Aug. 11, 2000--Lobbyists began choosing sides yesterday as the California Public Utilities Commission began studying a proposal by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to transfer its hydroelectric facilities in the state to a newly created unit of its parent holding company PG&E Corp.

The proposal, reported here yesterday, had the backing of The Utility Reform Network (TURN), theCoalition of California Utility Employees (CUE), Agricultural Energy Consumers Association(AECA), California Retailers Association, Sonoma County Water Agency, and Tuolumne UtilityDistrict.

Director Michael Boccadoro of the AECA called the settlement agreement "an historic opportunity to guarantee that these resources are operated in a reliable, environmentally sound manner and toprovide electric customers with significant economic benefits."

But the owners of independent power plants are against the proposal. Jan Smutny-Jones, executive director of the Independent Energy Producers Association, said "The best way to protect the environment and ratepayers, and to foster a truly competitive electric market is through an open, conditioned auction of these generating assets."

When PG&E first proposed transferring ownership of the hydro facilities to an affiliate, the plan was dismissed as self-serving and concerns over market power were raise. So, the utility proposed that it auction its plants, just like it did with its fossil-fueled power plants. That raised concerns by environmentalists and others who wondered what would happen to Californias rivers when competing generation companies ran the hydro turbines full time.

This time around, PG&E says its proposal should satisfy both environmentalists and free-market competitors.

As the sainted Noah Webster said in his 1802 American Spelling Book, "It makes a difference whose ox is gored."

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