Entergy speaker visits Rotary Club of Scenic 7

Members of the Rotary Club of Scenic 7 quizzed guest speaker Greg Asbell, Entergy southwest region manager, throughout his presentation yesterday.
Asbell is responsible for directing the regions customer service operations and economic efforts. He has worked for Entergy since 1982 and has lived here in the Village for about a year. So he shares our pain when we have power outages.
Asbell showed the Rotarians insulators and how Entergy is trying to cut down on outages by moving to an insulator that does not allow water to seep in, freeze and explode at some unspecified time in the future. The new insulator is more squat and has a wider area of protection.
Asbell told Rotarians Entergy Corp. has only 15,000 employees and almost three million customers. It has closed all of its local offices in order to streamline costs. Entergy is the second largest supplier of nuclear energy in the country.
Entergy is a 30 megawatt supplier. Its sources include nuclear, coal, gas/oil, combined cycle and hydro. Rotarians asked about the percentages of each source. Nuclear power supplies most of the electricity in Arkansas, 70-percent, gas is only 20-percent and hydro is just two-percent. Coal, gas/oil and combined cycle make up the remaining eight-percent.
Although Entergy Arkansas is fairly self-sufficient there are still times in the summer when it has to purchase electricity from other sources. Most of the year it sells its excess power.
According to Asbell, Entergy Corporation would like to grow more in nuclear-based power. In Arkansas the success of its plant in Russelville is good public relations for this type of growth. Other states using Entergy are not so receptive to nuclear power plants. He said it is a good source of clean energy.
Asbell also talked about two cases in front of the Arkansas Public Service Commission, PSC. One of the cases involves a system agreement regarding Arkansas subsidizing operations in Louisiana. The Entergy Corporation system agreements came into effect in 1951. In 2005 Arkansas filed to set aside the agreement with Louisiana. There is a delay in results, the earliest Arkansas can get out of the agreement is in 2013.
If Arkansas walks away from its reciprocal agreement with Louisiana it can join the southwest power pool, work without an agreement or write a new system agreement.
Each state has its own public service commission and it has the ability to overrule any directives by Entergy Corporation. The theory is the customer comes first and the customer’s rights should be respected.
Asbell also addressed the $168 million rate case before the PSC on May 19. According to Asbell, Entergy Arkansas ranks last in return rate to investors. He said the last time Entergy applied for a rate increase was in 2007 and it was denied.
Asbell finished his talk by giving energy saving tips to the Rotarians. Set thermostats to 68 in winter and 78 in summer. Seal leaky duct work. Set water heaters to 115 to 120 for more efficiency.
Rotary Club of Scenic 7 meets every Thursday at noon at the Boys and Girls Club. Bring a brown bag lunch at 11:30 to enjoy socializing before the meeting.