(The Center Square) − The Louisiana Public Service Commission voted 4-1 this week to halt a years-long effort to examine alternative electricity models that could give industrial and residential customers more choice in how they buy power.
Monday’s decision effectively ends a push for what were termed “customer-centered options,” which aimed to open the state’s power market to greater competition and reduce rising costs for consumers.
The only dissenting vote came from Commissioner Davante Lewis, who argued that the commission should continue examining ways to modernize Louisiana’s energy framework and avoid locking in steep rate increases.
The vote came as Entergy Louisiana, the state’s largest monopoly utility, faces growing scrutiny over the cost of its planned infrastructure investments.
Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, called the decision “astonishing,” particularly because it shut down what she described as the only venue where the commission was actively working on long-term solutions for customers.
“It was pretty astonishing to see elected officials in Louisiana say no to free markets — especially when a significant number of energy companies were in favor of looking at this issue,” Burke said. “That doesn’t often happen.”
A recent analysis by energy advisory firm BAI Group found that base electricity rates for Entergy customers could increase by up to 90% between 2018 and 2030 if all of the company’s proposed capital projects move forward.
That includes billions in spending for new natural gas plants, grid hardening projects and major transmission upgrades for the hurricane-prone state.
Entergy’s service area includes its separate New Orleans subsidiary and stretches from Baton Rouge to the Arkansas state line in the north along with Lafayette and Lake Charles to the Pelican State’s boundary with Texas.
“Entergy is preparing to build a lot of new infrastructure, and in the absence of any problem-solving, those costs are going to land squarely on customers,” she said. “Bills are about to really start hurting folks.”
A chart presented by BAI to the commission shows base rates for Entergy already rising steadily from 2018 to 2024, with a sharp projected climb continuing through 2030. The upward trajectory reflects costs associated with Entergy’s slate of project — including the Magnolia power plant, grid resilience measures and multiple high-voltage transmission lines.
Industrial research firm ICF confirms this data, forecasting that electricity demand across the U.S. will rise 25% by 2030 and 78% by 2050, compared to 2023 levels.
For states in the MISO region, like Louisiana, residential electricity rates could double by 2050, with prices rising from 20 to over 40 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to ICF.
“Across a sample of four utility service territories, residential retail rates are projected to increase 15% to 40% by 2030 from 2025 levels,” ICF noted in a recent report. “By 2050, retail rates could double.”
Further, the ruling stymies state development and expansion of a diverse energy portfolio, which some advocates say has been bypassed in favor of more natural gas, which utilities maintain is a cheap and clean source of generation.
Natural gas prices have decreased since a spike in January sent prices soaring to $9.86 per million British thermal units. Those prices are now at $3.42 per MMBtu as of Tuesday.
According to Burke, closing the docket also means abandoning progress on community solar — a program that allows groups of residents or businesses to share a solar installation and receive credit on their electricity bills.
Despite $150 million in federal funding headed to Louisiana through the Solar for All initiative, most of the money is earmarked for community solar projects that can’t move forward without supportive rules from the commission.
“Right now, there’s no workable program outside of New Orleans,” Burke said. “This was the only docket where those issues were even on the table.”
Though Entergy has their own solar programs, Burke called them “over-subscribed.”
That means they’re too small to handle the demand, meaning customers who want solar options often can’t get them−or the benefits are limited.
Despite these warnings, the commission’s vote puts Entergy on track to maintain its control over power delivery to Louisiana’s massive industrial sector, and ratepayers may have to shoulder the costs of the state’s aggressive industrial and infrastructure buildout.
