Entergy's $4.1 billion Louisiana gas plant ask: EDF says it costs households $15 a month
The same utility that credits data centers with cutting Mississippi's rates 16% is asking Louisiana households to underwrite two gas plants built on industrial demand that has already slipped once. The Louisiana commission's ruling is the who-pays decision the AI-grid trade is watching.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
Louisiana's Public Service Commission spent October 29 and 30 weighing whether Entergy+0.66% — Entergy, up 0.66 percent today Louisiana can spend $4.1 billion on two natural gas plants, Waterford 6 and Westlake, each rated at 750 megawatts 1. Environmental Defense Fund's expert testimony puts the cost to the average household at about $15 a month, or $180 a year, and its argument is simple: the demand is industrial, the risk is residential 1. One state over, the same utility is selling the opposite story. Which version pays is exactly what the Louisiana commission will decide.
The demand Entergy is building for is already smaller
The plants would largely serve Hyundai's steel project, CF Industries+0.30% — CF Industries, up 0.30 percent today, an ammonia producer, and Woodside, an LNG developer. Air Products−0.27% — Air Products, down 0.27 percent today, an industrial gas company, canceled its multibillion-dollar Louisiana hydrogen facility in June 2026 over financial viability, and Entergy acknowledged it learned of the decision when it became public; Hyundai has since shifted from green hydrogen, which is electricity-hungry, to gray or blue hydrogen, which needs far less of it 1.
EDF says Entergy never stress-tested a downside scenario and is running a wait-and-see posture instead 1. The margin for error is thin: a gas plant approved at the Waterford site in 2025 has already overrun projections by nearly $500 million, and Entergy declined a construction-cost cap when intervenors asked for one 1.
The same company runs the reverse bet in Mississippi
On November 3, an Entergy Mississippi executive wrote that data centers will push that state's residential rates 16% lower by 2030, crediting $25 billion of announced Amazon+0.46% — Amazon, up 0.46 percent today investment, $7 billion of savings for 2.3 million customers over 20 years, and a 41-cent decrease already on bills 2. The mechanics differ. In Mississippi, each data center pays a minimum charge covering its own costs first, under individually priced contracts 2. Louisiana's proposal is the traditional model: the utility builds, households carry the plant until the load shows up 1.
The numbers behind both pitches
Entergy (NYSE: ETR) reported third-quarter 2026 earnings of $1.98 a share, narrowed 2026 guidance to $4.35 to $4.45, and its utility arm earned $2.28 a share on higher retail sales volume 4. Revenue has climbed from $2.95 billion in the second quarter of 2024 to $4.37 billion in the third quarter of 2026 5, the demand ramp both state stories rest on. The release's own risk disclosures name the possibility that contracted or expected load growth does not materialize 4. Leadership said November 5 it will likely pursue non-traditional funding for data-center capital 3.
Entergy's quarterly revenue is up 48% in two years
The demand ramp both state stories rest on
Data
| Revenue | |
|---|---|
| Q2 '24 | 2.95B |
| Q3 '24 | 3.39B |
| Q4 '24 | 2.74B |
| Q1 '25 | 2.85B |
| Q2 '25 | 3.33B |
| Q3 '25 | 3.81B |
| Q4 '25 | 2.96B |
| Q1 '26 | 3.19B |
| Q2 '26 | 3.52B |
| Q3 '26 | 4.37B |
What to watch
The Louisiana commission must now rule on the $4.1 billion ask 1. Watch whether it forces a cost cap and a demand stress test: either converts Louisiana households from guarantors into bystanders, and both trim the rate-base math that turns AI-era demand into Entergy earnings. Arkansas already put this same math through its first audit, as The Inference has reported 1. Louisiana is next.
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