After tax bill passed, Entergy Arkansas announces plan to reduce customers' bills

Entergy Arkansas, citing recent tax changes, plans to save residential customers an estimated $20 per month for every 1,000 kilowatt-hour consumed over a 20-month period.

If approved by the Arkansas Public Service Commission, the plan would provide customers — residential and business — with about $466 million in benefits as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the utility said.

“Because of the lower federal corporate tax rate, some of Entergy Arkansas’ future tax obligations, which are components of customers’ rates, have been significantly reduced,” according to a news release.

Residential customers would see savings between April 2018 and December 2019.

The monthly average kilowatt-hour usage for residential customers is 1,029 kilowatts per hour, according to the company. The average annual use is 12,347 killowats per hour. Those figures are based on 2017 customers and usages, a spokesman said.

Business customers would also see “significant” bill reductions, the utility said.

Entergy Arkansas CEO Rick Riley said in a statement that Gov. Asa Hutchinson, upon the passage of the tax changes, had asked the Arkansas Public Service Commission to work with utilities to pass benefits to customers “as quickly as possible.”

“The tax reduction will allow us to provide substantial bill credits to all customers for a significant period of time,” Riley said.