LITTLE ROCK — Southwestern Electric Power Co. said Wednesday it has asked the state Public Service Commission to review a plan to retrofit its coal-fired power plant in Gentry with environmental controls.
SWEPCO said new Environmental Protection Agency regulations require it to install environmental controls for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and other pollutants at the 34-year-old Flint Creek plant or replace the plant’s generating capacity.
Retrofitting the plant would be more economical than converting the plant to natural gas, SWEPCO said. The company is asking the PSC to determine whether the plan is in the public’s best interest.
SWEPCO hopes to begin the project in January 2014 and complete it by June 2016. The cost of the project is estimated at $408 million.
Beginning in 2017, residential customers in Arkansas would see their rates increase by an estimated $2.97 per month, or 3.85 percent, and commercial customers would see their rates increase by 3.87 percent as a result of the project, the company said.
SWEPCO serves 520,400 customers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. It has 113,700 Arkansas customers.