The White Bluff coal plant at Redfield

On Thursday, the Arkansas Public Service Commission approved Entergy Arkansas’s request to build a new electricity-generating natural gas plant called Jefferson Power Station near the old White Bluff coal plant.

The plant will cost the utility giant — which serves over 700,000 Arkansas customers — around $1.5 billion and will have an energy generation capacity of 754 megawatts. As Entergy looks to take the White Bluff coal plant offline by the end of 2028 due to a legal settlement with the Sierra Club, the new Jefferson Power Station will help the company meet increasing electricity demand. In the first year the new power plant’s costs are included in electricity bills, Entergy estimates an average residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month could see bill increases of around $2.85 a month.

While the Public Service Commission approved the project, it also criticized Entergy for not soliciting bids for new generation in a competitive process. The regulatory body questioned the high cost of building Jefferson Power Station and said Entergy had not shown those costs were “reasonable or in the public interest.”

“We’re pleased the Commission recognized the need for the Jefferson Power Station and authorized the construction of this important resource to serve our customers and support continued economic growth across Arkansas,” David Palmer, vice president of regulatory affairs at Entergy, said in a statement to the Arkansas Times. Palmer noted that with the state forecasting increased demand from new large customers, such as the $6 billion AVAIO data center proposed for south Pulaski County, the Jefferson Power Station will help reliably meet that projected growth.

While Entergy praised the decision of commissioners to give them the go-ahead on the new gas plant, the company’s main opponent in the regulatory process also paradoxically praised the decision.

The Southern Renewable Energy Association — a trade association that promotes the development of renewable energy sources in the South — opposed Entergy’s application for Jefferson Power Station over concerns that Entergy did not consider cheaper or more reliable alternatives to the gas plant through a fair and open bidding process.

From SREA’s perspective, according to executive director Simon Mahan, when regulated utilities consider multiple proposals for generating new energy, customers are more likely to get the cheapest, most reliable, and most efficient sources of energy.

While the Public Service Commission approved the power plant, the regulators also agreed with SREA and ordered that future proposals for power generation include a more competitive, and transparent process.

“In sum, EAL [Entergy Arkansas] has failed to offer substantial evidence that its total project costs for JPS [Jefferson Power Station] are reasonable or in the public interest. It did not conduct a legitimate competitive solicitation for JPS, or offer other market type solicitations prior to its decision to self build,” the Public Service Commission said in the order. “The Commission shares Mr. Bower’s concerns that if EAL continues to add self-build resources without conducting legitimate competitive solicitation, the developer community will no longer seek to develop innovative and efficient projects in Arkansas that could be beneficial for customers.”

Jeffrey Bower is a member of the commission’s staff who argued along with SREA that competitive procurement for Jefferson Power Station was lacking in Entergy’s application.

For future proposals, the Public Service Commission will require independent monitors to ensure utilities are considering different sources of energy and making the process competitive and open. An independent monitor will also be hired to oversee the costs of Jefferson Power Station.

The commission approved the Jefferson Power Station as a qualifying “strategic investment” under a new utility reform law passed by the Arkansas Legislature in 2025. Entergy and other electricity utilities lobbied for passage of the bill. The law allows utilities to raise rates on customers up front to pay for new power generation and other infrastructure, instead of recouping the costs after building and putting power plants in commission.

In a statement to the Arkansas Times, an Entergy spokesperson disputed that a more competitive market process would have been beneficial in the case of Jefferson Power Station.

Phillip Powell writes about agriculture and the environment for Arkansas Times as a Report for America Corps Member. Send story ideas and quirky nature pictures to phillippowell@arktimes.com More by Phillip Powell