More companies are choosing Louisiana than ever before — recently topping $60 billion in new investments and creating jobs across the state. That growth is happening and energy costs are staying low, because Louisiana's utilities, state leaders, and the Public Service Commission (PSC) are working together to ensure new industries pay their fair share while keeping rates below the national average for everyone else.

Data Center Growth That Benefits Customers

The benefits of responsible growth are on full display in Louisiana’s record-breaking data center sector. Entergy’s new agreement with data center customers like Meta under its Fair Share Plus customer pledge is projected to deliver billions in bill savings for all Entergy Louisiana customers. Under this framework, data centers cover the cost of the power they use and contribute to additional savings for existing customers. As a result, Louisiana customers are expected to see roughly $2.8 billion in savings from data center power agreements.

As Entergy Louisiana’s leadership put it, the state’s regulatory model means that “growth pays for growth,” ensuring that large new customers like data centers help fund the infrastructure investment the grid needs without shifting those costs onto residential and small business customers.

A key advantage in Louisiana is that the state LPSC has oversight over the entire electrical utility system, a protection that doesn’t exist in states with deregulated electric structures – one that has been under threat recently in Louisiana.

Read PFT’s Gary Meltz on the role of utility regulation in the success of Entergy’s Meta agreement.

Protecting What’s Already Working

Recent efforts to create unaccountable private electric networks  would harm customers — to the tune of an estimated $200 in higher annual bills, according to the Consumer Energy Alliance. Part of what makes Louisiana’s energy success possible is its strong regulatory environment, one that requires utilities to serve everyone, allocate costs fairly, plan for the long term, and operate under full oversight from state regulators. Efforts to carve out exceptions to this system — like the recently proposed SB 490 — put that success at risk.

As Louisiana PSC Commissioner Eric Skrmetta put it: “SB 490 is a negative cost-shift that will absolutely raise electricity rates for residential consumers.”

Learn more about SB 490 and how it could have harmed Louisiana customers.

Videos