Public Service Commissioners brief council on Meta data center, Hyundai steel mill, local grid resiliency and consumer programs

Two Public Service Commissioners addressed the Saint Charles Parish Council on Nov. 3 about large energy projects, local grid resilience and new consumer programs.

Eric Scametta told the council the Richland Parish Meta data center project had grown from an initial $10 billion estimate to about $27 billion and described the facility as "a 4,000,000 square foot behemoth" that he said would deliver "over 2,000 megawatts of AI computing power" and create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs. He said Meta has guaranteed power purchase arrangements that include developer-funded generation and upgrades; Scametta argued those commitments and regulatory protections minimize risk to residential ratepayers.

Scametta also described a planned Hyundai Steel mill in Ascension Parish that he said would be an "ultra low carbon" facility on roughly 1,700 acres and projected to create direct and indirect jobs. He framed both projects as economic opportunities tied to increased local generation and transmission capacity.

Davonte Lewis, who later joined the meeting, briefed the council on Entergy Louisiana's resiliency work funded through an earlier commission program. He said Entergy has completed and planned multiple pole-hardening and transmission projects in the parish and that several targeted upgrades will come into service in 2026–27. He also said the commission approved an energy-efficiency program to begin Jan. 1, 2026, that mandates utilities dedicate 15% of program spending to seniors and low-income customers and creates weatherization and appliance-upgrade support.

On reliability and customer protections, Lewis said the commission is drafting rules to measure utility performance at the distribution level (by census tract or ZIP code) and is exploring customer credits for "fair-weather" outages that are not caused by storms or accidents. He also described efforts to create a coordinated system and potential penalties to resolve pole-attachment disputes when multiple companies share or replace utility poles.

Council members asked detailed questions about rate impacts, who pays for new transmission, and whether projects could shift costs to residential consumers. Scametta and Lewis said portions of new transmission and generation costs are borne by developers, regional transmission organizations and other states within the market footprint, and they emphasized regulatory oversight intended to limit direct impacts on local ratepayers.

Clarifying details from the meeting:

- Scametta described the Meta project as having a 15-year guarantee and said Meta is funding some generation and upgrades; he asserted the project would not leave the state within that guaranteed term (quote from his remarks).

- Lewis said Entergy's resiliency program includes multiple pole-hardening projects that will be completed in 2026–27 and that Entergy and other utilities are coordinating on transmission work through regional organizations (MISO). He also noted the commission approved a utility-led energy-efficiency program to start Jan. 1, 2026.

Ending note: Commissioners requested and offered follow-up with parish staff on maps, project locations and diagnostic reports for outage clusters.