BATON ROUGE, La., Oct. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Throughout Louisiana, business is booming. The state’s industrial renaissance has already resulted in commitments for more than $50 billion in new capital investment and more than 83,000 new direct and indirect jobs since 2008, according to state officials.

Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. have a plan to help keep that growth trend going. On Tuesday, the two companies asked the Louisiana Public Service Commission for permission to become a single utility.

“All customers benefit if Louisiana can attract new industry,” said Phillip May, Entergy Louisiana president and CEO. “Combining these two companies will allow us to make the necessary investments in the state’s utility infrastructure that will help us keep Louisiana’s economy growing. And our customers will still enjoy some of the lowest rates in the nation.”

By 2019, the two companies expect an increase of up to 1,600 MW in industrial load growth. Meeting that demand will require significant capital investments in all aspects of the companies’ business – generation, transmission and distribution.

Together, the two companies expect to invest more than $5 billion in Louisiana’s electric infrastructure by 2019, with similar levels of investment expected in the future.

“These upgrades won’t just improve Louisiana’s power infrastructure. They’ll allow us to keep meeting the growing industrial demand for electricity,” May said. “And more industrial development means more jobs in Louisiana. It also means a larger tax base so our communities can invest in their schools, repair their roads and maintain their parks.”

The companies aren’t combining as a way to increase revenue through rate adjustments. Rather, the proposed transaction is designed to be revenue-neutral. In order to minimize changes in customer bills, the companies will maintain separate base rates for existing customers. Going forward, as the combined company makes new investments, those new costs would be shared by all customers.

If the transaction is approved and closed in 2015, it could also produce up to $128 million in customer benefits during the decade after closing. This figure includes $97 million in guaranteed savings to customers during the first nine years after the transaction closes. Customer benefits are expected to be funded from anticipated savings resulting from the transaction.

“Our goal is to limit any rate impacts on customers,” May said. “Over the past several months, we’ve partnered with customers, regulators and other stakeholders to create the proposed rate schedule. The resulting proposal is stronger for their input and better meets the needs of the company, its customers, its employees and its communities.”

Entergy’s Louisiana utility companies provide electric service to more than one million customers through the operating companies Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. and natural gas service to nearly 93,000 customers in the greater Baton Rouge area through Entergy Gulf States Louisiana. With operations in southern, central and northeastern Louisiana, the companies are subsidiaries of Entergy Corporation.

Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including more than 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power, making it one of the nation’s leading nuclear generators. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and approximately 14,000 employees.

In this news release, and from time to time, Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. make certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Except to the extent required by the federal securities laws, Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There are factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including (a) those factors discussed in this news release and in Entergy Corporation and its subsidiaries’ most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Entergy Corporation and its subsidiaries’ other reports and filings made under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; (b) uncertainties associated with rate proceedings, formula rate plans and other cost recovery mechanisms; (c) uncertainties associated with efforts to remediate the effects of major storms and recover related restoration costs; (d) nuclear plant relicensing, operating and regulatory risks, including any changes resulting from the nuclear crisis in Japan following its catastrophic earthquake and tsunami; (e) legislative and regulatory actions and risks and uncertainties associated with claims or litigation by or against Entergy Corporation and its subsidiaries; (f) economic conditions and conditions in commodity and capital markets during the periods covered by the forward-looking statements, in addition to other factors described elsewhere in this news release and subsequent securities filings.

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SOURCE Entergy Louisiana, LLC; Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C.