Huntsville to join Entergy-area coalition, retain law firm and rate experts for PUCT cases

The Huntsville City Council voted Feb. 3 to authorize the city’s participation with other Entergy service-area cities and to retain lawyers and rate experts to represent the city at the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

A city presenter noted that the coalition has come to council annually for about 17 years and includes roughly 27 East Texas cities. "There's a coalition of cities, about 27 in East Texas, that hire the law firm to review any filings by Entergy with the Public Utility Commission," the presenter said, describing the usual work as reviews of rate-case filings and reimbursement requests. The presenter recommended retaining the Lawton Law Firm and rate experts to protect city ratepayers.

Councilman Faustin moved to waive the second-reading requirement and approve the ordinance authorizing participation and hiring of counsel and rate experts; Councilman Strong seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote as recorded in the open session (no roll-call tallies were read in the transcript).

The presenter told council that the coalition and its experts regularly review filings where Entergy seeks rate increases and said that the legal and expert review has, in the presenter’s view, benefited member cities in prior proceedings. The city will participate with the coalition for the coming period and will retain counsel and expert analysts as authorized by the ordinance.