Hoist on Your Own Petard

Hoist On Your Own Petard

Hoist on your own petard — an unpleasant surprise. A bomb that goes off in your hand. A screen pass that turns into a pick six. A developer’s fantasy that puts Entergy in a bind of its own making.

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Off the Grid Puts Someone on the Hook

Off the Grid Puts Someone on the Hook

Mississippi has now seen the data center problem from three vantage points. From one end, Amazon cut a sweetheart deal — SB 2001 — that handed it access to Entergy’s grid while keeping the contracts secret from the ratepayers who will subsidize it.

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Who You Gonna’ Believe?

Who You Gonna' Believe?

“Who you gonna’ believe? Me or your lying eyes.” Substitute Entergy’s spokesperson for Chico Marx, and you have the current gaslighting telling you don’t believe what you see happening in other states and what common sense tells you will happen here. Just trust Entergy not to raise electric rates for small customers to benefit Amazon’s data centers.

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The Great Mississippi Shell Game

The following is the transcript from Kelley Williams’ presentation at the Sept. 25 Public Service Commission’s Summit on Data Centers.

I’m glad to be here and I appreciate the opportunity to talk about being fooled. I don’t do this every day so I can’t wing it, but I want to be careful that what I tell you will stand up to cross-examination and spin and rebuttal. So I’m going to go slow and we’ll try to be precise and accurate.

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Georgia’s PSC is in the game. Mississippi’s been benched.

Georgia’s PSC is in the game. Mississippi’s been benched.

The Public Service Commission’s (PSC’s) job is to protect small customers from big monopolies.  Entergy Mississippi is part of Entergy Corporation.  It’s a big electricity monopoly with utility subs in four states. It’s a government granted and government protected monopoly.

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Mini Mills, DeepSeek, and Amazon’s Data Centers

Mini Mills, DeepSeek, and Amazon’s Data Centers

In 1969, Nucor opened its first mini steel mill in Darlington, SC. Its small electric furnaces produced steel from scrap cheaper and faster than the big integrated mills’ blast furnaces could from iron ore. Nucor disrupted the steel industry. Today, it’s the largest and most diversified steel company in North America, with a $45 billion market cap. Mini mills now account for 70% of all steel produced in the U.S. Former industry giant U.S. Steel has only two integrated mills left, a market cap of $8 billion, and is seeking to be acquired. Sic transit gloria.

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Under the Bus

Under the Bus

You might think the Governor and the Legislature threw Entergy Mississippi’s 461,000 customers under the bus as a sacrifice to the Economic Development Gods when they exempted the Amazon project from PSC oversight.

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Two Data Centers for Mississippi

AWS

There are over 10,000 data centers in the United States. But no big ones in Mississippi. That’s about to change – thanks to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and a package of goodies from the Governor and the MS Legislature. AWS will build two hyperscale data centers here. The first one will be in Madison County. AWS will invest $10 billion.

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How Are Hospitals and Electric Utilities Alike?

Government Monopoly

Both are regulated monopolies. Government monopolies. Patients and customers are denied the benefits of competition. Patients have fewer choices and get government medicine. Customers get more expensive and less reliable electricity.

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