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PUC of Texas Approves Entergy Texas' Plans to Build Over 1,200 MW of Gas-Fired Capacity

LCG, September 12, 2025--Entergy announced yesterday that the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) approved Entergy Texas’ proposal to build two efficient natural gas-fired power plants to support the region’s rapid growth. The combined electric generating capacity of the two facilities, the Legend Power Station and the Lone Star Power Station, will add over 1,200 MW to the Southeast Texas power grid to support new customer demand, increase reliability and lower costs for all customers. Both facilities are scheduled to commence operations by mid-2028.

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Puget Sound Energy Starts Construction on 142-MW Appaloosa Solar Project in Washington

LCG, September 4, 2025--Puget Sound Energy (PSE) announced yesterday that phased construction has commenced on its 142-MW Appaloosa Solar Project, a utility-scale solar facility underway in southeastern Washington. The project is being built by Qcells EPC, who will serve as the module manufacturer and the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) solution provider. Construction is scheduled through 2026, and commercial operation is expected at the end of next year.

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Industry News

Another Seattle Electric Rate Increase - More to Come

LCG, May 31, 2001Customers of Seattle City Light, the Washington city's municipal utility, will begin paying 9.3 percent more for electricity in July. The rate hike, the third so far this year, won't be the last, according to the Seattle Times, and also won't be the stiffest.

The paper said yesterday that this latest increase, like previous increases of 10 percent in January and 18 percent in March, is considered a temporary surcharge, expected to be removed in 2002 or 2003.

The rate increase is needed to pay for power at ever-increasing rates and to repay $250 million the utility has borrowed to pay higher than expected prices for power already purchased. City Light typically purchases between 10 percent and 15 percent of its power on the wholesale market, where a persistent drought in the hydroelectric-dependent Pacific Northwest has caused prices to increase 10- to 20-fold.

Even with the current rate increase, a residential customer in Seattle pays only 6 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity, but he's used to paying a lot less because of all the federal hydroelectric dams that dot the Columbia and Snake Rivers. The water flow this year is expected to be about 58 percent of normal, which means there will be only 58 percent of the usual amount of power.

Most of those dams are operated by the Bonneville Power Administration, a federal agency. Next month, City Light expects to learn how much the agency will charge for a new power contract.

According to Gary Zarker, City Light customers could face a 22 percent rate increase in October, and that's under a best-case scenario. If Bonneville fails to get its municipal utility customers to rein in power usage, and get several aluminum companies to halt production, the rate increase to Seattle customers could be much higher than 22 percent, he said.

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