LITTLE ROCK — Google is expected to rack up more than $2.1 billion in total upfront and minimum demand payments to Entergy Arkansas under a 20-year special rate contract for Google’s data center in West Memphis.
Entergy is deferring those payments while it builds the Cypress Solar facility, meaning Entergy customers are helping cover the construction costs through a monthly fee.
None of that money will be used for the construction of Cypress Solar, the solar and battery storage facility Entergy is building to power the data center.
Entergy said it would recover the costs of constructing the facility near Pine Bluff through the Generating Arkansas Jobs Act.
However, Entergy customers began seeing a $5.77 monthly fee to pay for the construction of three power facilities, including the one at Pine Bluff.
The Generating Arkansas Jobs Act allows utilities to charge ratepayers for construction costs while generation plants are being built rather than after the facilities are finished and providing power.
