Scruggs? Patterson? Balducci? Uh, pay no attention. Hey - look at Entergy!

Tuesday Dickie Scruggs plead guilty in another judicial bribery case. Friday, Steve Patterson and Timothy Balducci will be sentenced for their role in the first judicial bribery case. A couple of guys who received tens of thousands of dollars from these now felons don't want you thinking about that. Instead, they're attacking someone who hasn't been shown to have done anything wrong, and in fact, has newly realeased evidence that they're doing things right.

Brandon Presley and Jim Hood don't want you thinking about corrupt trial lawyers. They want you thiking about Entergy Mississippi.

Last year, the Mississippi Public Service Commission hired Walter Drabinski of Vantage Consulting to conduct a performance audit of Entergy Mississippi to review "activities related to providing energy, capacity, and ancillary services for all customer classes of EMI." The report said because "almost all procurement of fuels, energy and related planning is performed by Entergy Services Inc. (ESI), much of the work, including interviews and data gathering were done through ESI." Basically, Drabinski had the run of all the records of Entergy Mississippi and Entergy Services.

The report is generally good for Entergy as explained over at Y'all Politics. Naturally, like any company would, they announced the good news in a release saying:

Overall, we’re encouraged by the findings. The way we project fuel costs and true up fuel cost recoveries, provide the commission with sufficient fuel filing data and plan for Mississippi’s future energy needs were all noted as practices that serve our customers well. We’ll pay careful attention to the report’s critique of our method for recovering fuel costs. Matters like these are under consideration at the commission and we’ll continue to fully support their review. This report shows the importance of review and analysis of the business practices of Mississippi utilities, as is conducted by the independent experts on the Mississippi Public Utilities Staff, as well as the commissioners.

That is a rational, measured, reasonable response.

Cue the demoagogues.

Jim Hood says:

Entergy is at it again, issuing press releases that are not true. The report itself states that Vantage Consulting did not review any procurement decisions and did not make any judgment as to the prudence of any purchase. In fact, the audit recommended additional audits because they found Entergy’s accounting was “likely to be innaccurate”. The PSC will likely be issuing documents tomorrow which will totally expose Entergy’s mis-representations. We will have a true court ordered audit one day. We will find exactly the same thing as the audit in Louisiana; that Entergy overcharged customers.

What? Are we talking about the same thing? Its like an economics professor made a point and for rebuttal someone brought in a dancing monkey. If only he had something to throw.

"With respect to the touting of these findings, I think Entergy needs to put down the pom-poms and pick up some reading glasses." - Brandon Presley's statement

Yep, like RoM said, Jim Hood said to jump and Brandon Presley asked how high.

Well, we put on our reading glasses and picked up the report and this is what we found.

Drabinski's executive summary says, "This audit looks primarily at current policies, procedures, processes, systems, organizations and strategies to determine if they are appropriate. Historical data is used to provide a baseline of results and to test proposed changes in policy...Our objective was to provide clear and independent information that can be used by all stakeholders in guidance on issues related to fuel procurement such as the Fuel Adjustment Clause (FAC) and long-term energy planning...Vantage received unfettered access to all appropriate people and data."

Some special interest groups in the state would profit by forcing Entergy to buy unregulated independently produced electricity. But Drabinski warns that such dependence on unstable producers is ill advised and notes it is unnecessary as there "is no evidence that EMI mismanages its power plants."

The report suggests Entergy Mississippi should continue to use projected fuel costs for fuel adjustment charge. Brandon Presley had argued they should go to actual fuel costs in recovery instead. No wonder Presley doesn't care for this audit.

The report suggests Entergy Mississippi move from quarterly rate adjustments to monthly rate adjustments. And it recommends Entergy Mississippi increase the number and scope of internal audits. If you want to read the report yourself, here it is courtesy of Y'all Politics.

Finally, everytime you turn around, Hood and Presley want another audit. But according to Drabinski, "The information provided by [Entergy] each quarter allows the Mississippi Public Utility Staff to conduct an adequate review needed to confirm the accuracy of the data in calculation." So what else do they want? Oh yeah, pay no attention to the Scruggs/Patterson/Balducci behind the curtain!