# Order No. 7 Approving the GAJA Annual Update Doc. 77 in [[psc/docket-26-008-tf-2026-05-22/_overview|Docket 26-008-TF]] — the full Commission's 25-page final order on Entergy Arkansas's first Generating Arkansas Jobs Act annual update, issued 2026-06-04 and signed by Chairman [[Doyle Webb]] and Commissioners [[Justin Tate]] and [[Katie Anderson]]. It approves the update, resolves the contested [[Ironwood]] Strategic-Investment question in Entergy's favor, accepts Staff's $463,000 rate-of-return correction, and rejects the Attorney General's capital-structure recommendation as beyond the Commission's Act 373 authority. ## What's inside - `26-008-TF_77_1.pdf` — Order No. 7, 25 pages: procedural history (§I), parties' positions (§II), the 2026-04-29 evidentiary hearing (§III), discussion and findings (§IV), ruling (§V). ## Key takeaways - **Approval.** "EAL's Annual Update is approved as ordered herein" (p. 24, Ordering ¶1). EAL directed to file a revised GAJA Rider within five days (¶2); other parties may respond within three days thereafter (¶3). - **The Ironwood ruling — the (w) pathway suffices, and the order itself makes the finding.** "While the Commission has not yet specifically found that Ironwood is a Strategic Investment, the Commission finds that nothing in Act 373 specifically requires a finding that a particular investment is a 'Strategic Investment' prior to a utility's Annual Update for a facility which falls under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-4-1304(w)" (pp. 21–22). The order then supplies the finding directly: "The investment in Ironwood was made to support existing customers and economic growth, as well as to maintain and improve the provision of reliable electric utility service to new and existing customers in this state. Therefore, the Commission finds that Ironwood qualifies as a strategic investment under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-4-1303(10)" (p. 22, citing Palmer Rebuttal at 4–5). Eligibility under (w) follows: application filed 2024-11-01, order issued after 2025-01-01, costs not in pre-March-2025 rates (p. 22). - **Staff's arithmetic adjustment accepted.** "The Commission finds Staff's adjustment to the before-tax rate of return on rate base and before-tax rate of return on CWIP to be reasonable and therefore accepts Staff's adjustment" (p. 20) — the $463,000 reduction, trimming the residential bill impact from $5.77 to $5.74/month per 1,000 kWh. - **The AG's capital-structure recommendation rejected — statutory constraint, not merits.** "Regarding AG witness Meyer's recommendation that the Commission direct EAL to increase the amount of short-term debt it carries to finance the strategic investments, the Commission finds that Act 373 does not grant the Commission the authority to do so" (p. 22); "While the Commission shares the concerns of Mr. Meyer, Ark. Code Ann. § 23-4-1304(m)(1)(B) requires that the balances of the short-term debt are to be based on EAL's actual capital structure for purposes of the GAJA Rider" (p. 23). - **No advisory opinion on the deficiency-timeline question.** "The Commission does not issue advisory opinions. The Commission does note, however, that it is the Commission, not Staff, that determines whether or not there is a deficiency in a utility's filing" (p. 20). The Commission sided with EAL that "there are fundamental differences between a statutory deficiency and a tariff deficiency" (p. 19). - **Refund caution.** The Commission "cautions EAL that using such cost estimates, which may be beyond the benchmarks set by the Commission for those projects, may lead to customer confusion in the event that the Commission determines that any portion of those amounts were imprudently incurred and that EAL must provide refunds pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 23-4-1304(h) and Ark. Code Ann. § 23-4-1304(v)" (p. 23). - **Forward directives** (Ordering ¶¶4–6): Independent Monitors available for Commissioner questions in future updates; updated tariff sheets in rebuttal when EAL agrees to adjustments; "updated projections in each Annual Update filing showing the next five-years' estimated GAJA Rider revenue requirement and estimated customer bill impacts" (p. 24). ## People and orgs mentioned - [[Doyle Webb]], [[Justin Tate]], [[Katie Anderson]] — signatories - [[Matthew R. Morey]] ($110.4M total revenue impact; $5.77 / 4.17% residential), [[J. David Palmer]] (Ironwood rebuttal), [[Matthew S. Klucher]] (class revenue allocators from 25-049-TF), [[Mark Herring]] ($33.9M exclusion recommendation; $463K correction), [[Greg R. Meyer]] (CWIP short-term-debt position) - [[Entergy Arkansas]], [[APSC General Staff]], [[Office of the Arkansas Attorney General]], Arkansas Advanced Energy Association ## Concepts invoked [[Generating Arkansas Jobs Act (GAJA) rider]] · [[Strategic Investment]] · [[Ironwood]] · [[Jefferson Power Station]] · [[Arkansas Cypress]] ## Events documented - [[2026-06 APSC Order No. 7 Approves the GAJA Rider Annual Update]] ## Cross-references - Resolves [[T002 - Ironwood Strategic Investment Designation Requirement]] — the precise resolution path D002/D004 anticipated: no prior designation required for a (w) facility **plus** the designation finding made inside the approving order itself. - [[Entergy Order No. 6 Response]] — the Legislative-Council report the Commission had in hand when ruling. - [[Who Pays for Entergy's New Generation]] §§ I, VII. ## Open questions / follow-ups - Rehearing/judicial-review window under § 23-2-422/-423 — does Staff, the AG, or AAEA seek review of the Ironwood ruling? - The order's § 23-4-1304(h)/(v) refund caution makes the Independent-Monitor cost reports in 24-072-U / 26-033-U the live prudence battleground.