Insights > Entergy Texas is working to make your power bill one less thing to worry about

Entergy Texas is working to make your power bill one less thing to worry about

05/26/2022

Like most things these days, the costs related to generating and delivering power have increased recently. A majority of the energy produced by Entergy Texas comes from natural gas, which has doubled in cost over the last year. Since our natural gas purchases are passed through at cost to customers (with no profit to the company), customer bills have gone up. While our residential rates are still below the national average, Entergy Texas is taking real action to reduce or minimize inflationary production cost impacts on our customers’ electricity bills. Here are a few steps we have taken to keep bills more affordable.

Transitioning to more efficient natural gas plants

Entergy Texas is transitioning from older, less efficient natural gas plants to newer, more modern and efficient generation - helping to keep the costs for our customers lower. Last year, the state-of-the-art Montgomery County Power Station achieved commercial operation, providing 993 megawatts of clean, affordable and efficient energy and powering over 184,000 homes. In addition, the company filed a request for approval for the Orange County Advanced Power Station, a 1,215-megawatt, dual-fuel combined cycle power facility capable of co-firing natural gas and hydrogen. This plant will be capable of powering over 230,000 homes. These newer plants are 30-40% more efficient than older, aging generation, which directly translates to fuel savings for customers.  

Investing in solar power

The company has entered into a twenty-year power purchase agreement with Umbriel Solar for 150 megawatts of solar. The facility will be in Polk County and will be operational beginning in 2024. And we’re not stopping there. Entergy Texas is evaluating additional solar resources that will provide economical, clean energy for our customers with plans to reach over 500 megawatts by 2025 and even more by 2030. The addition of these solar resources will increase the diversity of our power generation portfolio, and the construction of these solar plants will benefit Southeast Texas communities by creating new jobs.

Ramping up our economic development efforts

Recruiting new businesses to our communities creates new jobs and helps keep electricity rates more affordable for existing customers by spreading the costs associated with providing that power across a larger customer base. We are ramping up our efforts in this area, and, in the last two years alone, we’ve helped recruit 33 new and expanded projects in Southeast Texas, which have created more than 2,663 new jobs for our region.

For customers looking to lower emissions and reduce the pain at the pump by making the switch to an electric vehicle, Entergy’s eTech program offers customers an incentive for purchasing electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Learn more at entergyetech.com/electric-vehicles.

 

Giving customers new tools to save

Thanks to our new advanced meters, you now have access to more detailed energy usage information to take control of your bills. You can log in to your MyEntergy account and view how much electricity you’ve used daily, shown in 15-minute increments for residential customers, rather than waiting until the end of the month to view your energy usage. Through the new online tools, you can set up alerts when reaching budgetary goals to keep track of your monthly spending. Advanced meters provide customers with more timely usage information so that you can decide whether to reduce consumption to help reduce your electricity bills. Detailed information can be accessed by logging into your account at MyEntergy.com.

The men and women of Entergy Texas live and work in our communities, too, and understand the strain rising prices can put on families. We are committed to doing everything we can to make your electricity bill one less thing you have to worry about.


Eliecer "Eli" Viamontes
President and CEO, Entergy Texas