# Docket 26-008-TF — Order No. 7 and the Compliance Round (Docs 77–79) The decision tranche of the Generating Arkansas Jobs Act rider's first annual update: the full Commission's **Order No. 7** (Doc. 77, 2026-06-04) approving Entergy Arkansas's 2026 GAJA Rider Annual Update and resolving the contested [[Ironwood]] Strategic-Investment question in Entergy's favor; Entergy's compliance filing of the **revised Rate Schedule No. 73** (Doc. 78, 2026-06-05) carrying the approved per-class rates; and [[Mark Herring|Staff's]] **compliance testimony** (Doc. 79, 2026-06-08) verifying the revised tariff and recommending its approval. Retrieved 2026-06-10 from the APSC e-filing system (`olsv2/viewdoc/pdfview.asp` binary endpoint); sha256 inventory in `_phase0_workdir/inventory_2026-06-10_apsc.md`. ## What's inside - `26-008-TF_77_1.pdf` (25 pp.) — **Order No. 7** (Commission: Webb, Tate, Anderson), 2026-06-04 — see [[Order No. 7 Approving the GAJA Annual Update]] - `26-008-TF_78_1.pdf` (7 pp.) — Entergy's revised Rate Schedule No. 73 + Attachments 1–3, 2026-06-05 — see [[Revised GAJA Rider Rate Schedule 73]] - `26-008-TF_79_1.pdf` (6 pp.) — Herring Compliance Testimony, 2026-06-08 — see [[Staff Compliance Testimony on the Revised GAJA Rider]] ## Key takeaways 1. **The annual update is approved.** "EAL's Annual Update is approved as ordered herein" (`26-008-TF_77_1.pdf`, p. 24). The only reduction from the filed $110.4M is Staff's $463,000 before-tax rate-of-return correction, which the Commission accepted as "reasonable" (p. 20). The revised revenue requirement is **$109,977,691** (`26-008-TF_78_1.pdf`, Attachment 2). 2. **Ironwood is a Strategic Investment — [[T002 - Ironwood Strategic Investment Designation Requirement|T002]] is resolved.** "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)" and "the Commission finds that Ironwood qualifies as a strategic investment under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-4-1303(10)" (`26-008-TF_77_1.pdf`, pp. 21–22). The ~$33.9M Ironwood share stays in the rider. 3. **The Commission says Act 373 ties its hands on capital structure.** Rejecting the Attorney General's short-term-debt recommendation: "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. Consequently, the Commission finds this Docket to be the inappropriate forum to address EAL's capital structure" (`26-008-TF_77_1.pdf`, p. 23). 4. **Refund caution + new transparency directives.** The Commission "cautions EAL" that using internal cost estimates "beyond the benchmarks set by the Commission" may trigger refunds under § 23-4-1304(h)/(v) (p. 23), and directs that in future Annual Updates EAL must make the Independent Monitors available for Commissioner questions, file updated tariff sheets in rebuttal, and provide five-year projections of GAJA revenue requirement and customer bill impacts (p. 24). ## People and orgs mentioned - [[Doyle Webb]], [[Justin Tate]], [[Katie Anderson]] — the Commissioners signing Order No. 7 - [[Matthew R. Morey]], [[J. David Palmer]], [[Matthew S. Klucher]] — Entergy witnesses summarized - [[Mark Herring]] — Staff witness (responsive + compliance testimony) - [[Greg R. Meyer]] — Attorney General witness (capital-structure recommendation rejected) - [[Entergy Arkansas]], [[APSC General Staff]], [[Office of the Arkansas Attorney General]], [[Arkansas Public Service Commission]] ## 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 - [[T002 - Ironwood Strategic Investment Designation Requirement]] — resolved by Order No. 7 (`resolved-via-Order-No-7`, Statement A's refined position prevailing, with the Commission also making the qualification finding in the order itself — Staff's conditional-concession path) - [[Who Pays for Entergy's New Generation]] — the capstone synthesis this order updates - [[docket-26-008-tf-order6-response-2026-06-03/_overview|Order No. 6 response production]] — the immediately prior tranche ## Open questions / follow-ups - Watch for a Commission order (or implicit acceptance) on the Doc 78 compliance tariff after Staff's favorable Doc 79 recommendation; parties had three days to respond to the revised rider per Ordering ¶3. - The five-year GAJA projection directive (Ordering ¶6) makes the *next* annual update a forward-visibility document — a future Tier-1 retrieval priority. - Whether any party seeks rehearing or judicial review of the Ironwood ruling under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-2-422/-423.