Little Rock, Arkansas – Entergy officials say a wave of new agreements with large data center operators is expected to deliver major financial relief for customers across its service area, with projected savings reaching about $7 billion over the next two decades.
The announcement centers on system-wide savings that will benefit roughly 2.3 million customers across Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. According to company leaders, the agreements were structured after extensive negotiations with major technology and infrastructure companies seeking to build or expand data center operations in the region.
Officials explained that the savings will be realized gradually over a 20-year period, following approval from each state’s public service commission. Entergy leaders say the regulatory oversight played a key role in shaping agreements that balance economic growth with customer protection.
Entergy Chair and Chief Executive Officer Drew Marsh said the outcome reflects a deliberate effort to attract new industries while ensuring existing customers do not carry additional costs.
“We proactively worked with our state leaders to recruit a new industry with attractive power agreements that protect and benefit our existing customers,” Marsh said. “Our respective public service commissions provided the collaboration, oversight and direction needed to make this emerging high-tech and electric future a win for everyone in our region.”
Marsh also emphasized that the partnerships are expected to bring broader benefits beyond utility savings. He pointed to job creation, new capital investment, and infrastructure development as key outcomes of the growing data center presence across the tri-state grid.
Arkansas alone is projected to see up to $1.7 billion in savings, driven in part by planned projects involving Google and Avaio Digital. Officials noted that Google has agreed to fund major energy infrastructure tied to its operations, including the construction of a 600-megawatt solar facility and a 350-megawatt battery storage system. The company will also pay for the electricity it consumes once its site becomes operational.
Entergy Arkansas President and CEO Laura Landreaux confirmed that Google will cover the full cost associated with those energy investments, a detail officials say is central to how customer savings are achieved.
Across the broader Entergy network, several large-scale data center developments are either underway or planned. These include two Amazon Web Services campuses located in Madison County, Mississippi, and another in Warren County, Mississippi. Meta is also planning a campus in Rayville, Louisiana.
Additional developments include Avaio Digital’s planned campus in Rankin County, Mississippi, along with a second campus in Little Rock, Arkansas. Google’s planned campus in West Memphis, Arkansas, adds to the growing footprint of tech infrastructure in the region. Meanwhile, Hut 8 is developing a site in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.
Company officials say these investments reflect a broader shift toward high-demand digital infrastructure, particularly as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and data storage needs continue to expand rapidly across the country.
Entergy’s leadership maintains that the agreements were carefully designed to ensure that large new electricity users contribute directly to the costs of the infrastructure they require, rather than shifting that burden onto residential and small business customers.
More information about the data center partnerships and their expected impact on rates and infrastructure planning is available through Entergy’s official data center resources.
