Transfer of Entergy grid to MISO control advances

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Electric grid operators, Southwest Power Pool and MISO, will continue to renegotiate certain terms of a joint operating agreement to better accommodate Entergy joining MISO, the agencies said Friday.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) this week rejected Southwest Power Pool's (SPP) request for a larger rehearing on whether the joint operating agreement provides adequate compensation to SPP to share transmission capacity with MISO.

The regulatory wrangling between the neighboring grid agencies emerged after New Orleans-based Entergy Corp chose to join MISO to oversee operation of its four-state, high-voltage transmission network in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi.

'With this issue settled, we have taken another step toward fully integrating Entergy into the MISO market,' said Todd Hillman, MISO's executive director of market development and services, in a release.

Entergy decided to join MISO, a regional transmission organization (RTO) which operates in 11 Midwest states, over SPP, last April.

MISO will have to use some SPP transmission lines to connect Entergy's Gulf Coast territory to the rest of the MISO grid.

SPP had protested this, but FERC ruled that the joint operating agreement provided adequate compensation to share transmission capacity between MISO and SPP.

An SPP spokesman said officials were still reviewing the order Friday, but were pleased that the order confirmed that the parties have an obligation to renegotiate the JOA.

'We've had three meetings so far and have already proposed specific modifications to SPP,' MISO's Hillman said. 'We look forward to continuing those discussions if any further needs arise.'

All of Entergy's utilities, with the exception of Entergy Texas, have filed for approval from state regulators to transfer control of transmission assets to MISO by the end of 2013.

Entergy Texas has not yet determined when it will file with the Texas Public Utility Commission, a spokesman said.

Entergy's move to seek membership in an existing regional transmission operator (RTO) emerged in the last few years, after several aborted efforts.

It comes at the growing insistence of state and federal regulators following a decade of complaints from independent power producers trying to sell power using Entergy's grid and from utilities seeking to import cheaper power from outside the Entergy system.

The effort also follows the October 2010 disclosure that Entergy was cooperating with a U.S. Department of Justice civil investigation of its competitive practices, including its transmission system practices.

In December, Entergy said it would divest its transmission system and merge it with U.S. transmission company ITC Corp .

(Reporting by Eileen O'Grady in Houston; Scott DiSavino in New York; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

()Keywords: UTILITIES MISO/ENTERGY

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