Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowSouth Mississippi Electric Power Association plans to join an Indiana-based regional power transmission organization at the same time as Entergy Corp. utilities.
Hattiesburg-based SMEPA, which generates and wholesales power to 11 electric cooperatives serving 410,000 Mississippi customers, says it will join Carmel-based MISO in December 2013.
MISO, the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, now directs electricity transmission in parts of 11 Midwestern states and Canada's Manitoba province. The not-for-profit group tries to route the cheapest possible electricity to users, even if it's generated at a faraway plant instead of a nearby one.
Like Entergy, SMEPA says joining will save customers money, from $4 million to $40 million a year, according to studies.
New Orleans-based Entergy won approval this year for its utilities in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas to join MISO.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.