Entergy (ETR) Risk Analysis

In an effort to address climate change concerns, some federal, state, and local authorities have been calling for additional laws and regulations aimed at known or suspected causes of climate change.  For example, the EPA, various environmental interest groups, and other organizations have focused considerable attention on CO2 emissions from power generation facilities and their potential role in climate change.  The EPA has promulgated regulations controlling greenhouse gas emissions from certain vehicles, and has proposed regulations for new, existing, and significantly modified stationary sources of emissions, including electric generating units. Such regulations continue to evolve. Various states and regions of the U.S. have taken action to establish greenhouse gas limitations and trading programs. In Louisiana, the former Office of the Governor announced in 2020 the creation of a Climate Initiatives Task Force and issued an executive order that established a path to net-zero emissions by 2050, while in 2021, the City Council of New Orleans passed a renewable and clean portfolio standard that sets a goal of net-zero emissions by 2040 and absolute zero emissions by 2050. The impact that continued changes in the governmental response to climate change risk and any judicial interpretation thereof will have on existing and pending environmental laws and regulations related to greenhouse gas emissions currently is unclear. Developing and implementing plans for compliance with greenhouse gas emissions reduction or reporting or clean/renewable energy requirements, or for achieving voluntary climate commitments can lead to additional capital, personnel, and operation and maintenance expenditures and could significantly affect the economic position of existing facilities and proposed projects. The operations of low or non-emitting generating units (such as nuclear units and solar facilities) at lower than expected capacity factors could require increased generation from higher emitting units, thus increasing Entergy's greenhouse gas emission rate. Similarly, increased load growth and the natural gas generation required to meet that increased demand could result in an increase in Entergy's absolute greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, long-term planning to meet environmental requirements can be negatively impacted and costs may increase to the extent laws and regulations change prior to full implementation.  These requirements could, in turn, lead to changes in the planning or operations of balancing authorities or organized markets in areas where Entergy's subsidiaries, including the Utility operating companies or System Energy, do business. Violations of such requirements may subject the Utility operating companies to enforcement actions, capital expenditures to bring existing facilities into compliance, additional operating costs or operating restrictions to achieve compliance, civil penalties, and exposure to third parties' claims for alleged health or property damages or for violations of applicable permits or standards.  Further, real or perceived violations of environmental regulations, including those related to climate change, or inability to meet Entergy's voluntary climate commitments, could negatively impact Entergy's reputation or inhibit Entergy's ability to pursue its decarbonization objectives. To the extent Entergy believes any of these costs are recoverable in rates, however, additional material rate increases for customers could be resisted by Entergy's regulators and, in extreme cases, Entergy's regulators might attempt to deny or defer timely recovery of these costs. Future changes in regulation or policies governing the reporting or emission of, or government programs relating to, CO2 and other greenhouse gases or mix of generation sources could (i) result in significant additional costs to Entergy's Utility operating companies, their suppliers, or customers; (ii) make some of Entergy's electric generating units uneconomical to maintain or operate; (iii) result in the early retirement of generation facilities and stranded costs if Entergy's Utility operating companies are unable to fully recover the costs and investment in generation; (iv) increase the difficulty that Entergy and its Utility operating companies have with obtaining or maintaining required environmental regulatory approvals; and (v) cause the financing needs of Entergy and its subsidiaries to increase should such changes result in a repeal or limitation on government tax credits, loans, grants, guarantees, or other subsidies incentivizing the development or utilization of alternative sources of generation , each of which could materially affect the financial condition, results of operations, and liquidity of Entergy and its subsidiaries.  In addition, lawsuits have occurred or are reasonably expected against emitters of greenhouse gases alleging that these companies are liable for personal injuries and property damage caused by climate change.  These lawsuits may seek injunctive relief, monetary compensation, and punitive damages. In March 2019, Entergy voluntarily set a climate goal to achieve a 50 percent reduction in its carbon emission rate from the year 2000 by 2030. In September 2020, Entergy voluntarily committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. In November 2022, Entergy voluntarily set a climate goal to achieve 50 percent carbon-free energy capacity by 2030. Due to stronger than initially expected sales growth, likely necessitating the development of new generation capacity that is not carbon-free, Entergy expects that achievement of the 50% carbon-free energy generating capacity goal will be delayed for a period beyond 2030 that has not yet been determined. In addition, achievement of the 2030 emission rate goal could also be challenged as a result of the forecasted and future sales growth. Further risks to achieving the 2030 and 2050 goals include, among other things, the ability to execute on renewable resource plans, regulatory approvals, customer demand for carbon-free energy that exceeds Entergy's or its Utility operating companies' ability to add lower carbon or carbon-free capacity, load growth, potential tariffs, carbon policy and regulation at the federal or state level, including mandates related to reliability standards, and supply chain costs and constraints. Technology research and development, innovation, and advancements in carbon-free generation are also critical to Entergy's ability to achieve its 2050 commitment. Entergy cannot predict the ultimate impact of achieving these objectives, or the various implementation aspects, on its system reliability, or its results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity.

Temperatures above normal levels in the summer tend to increase electric cooling demand and revenues, and temperatures below normal levels in the winter tend to increase electric and gas heating demand and revenues.  As a corollary, mild temperatures in either season tend to decrease energy usage and resulting revenues.  Higher consumption levels coupled with seasonal pricing differentials typically cause the Utility operating companies to report higher revenues in the third quarter of the fiscal year than in the other quarters.  Changing weather patterns and extreme weather conditions, including hurricanes or tropical storms, droughts, wildfires, flooding events, or ice storms, the frequency or intensity of which may be exacerbated by climate change, may stress the Utility operating companies' generation facilities and transmission and distribution systems, resulting in increased maintenance and capital costs (and potential increased financing needs), limits on their ability to meet peak customer demand, increased regulatory oversight, criticism or adverse publicity, and reduced customer satisfaction.  These extreme conditions could have a material effect on the Utility operating companies' financial condition, results of operations, and liquidity. Entergy's electricity sales volumes are affected by a number of factors including weather and economic conditions, trends in energy efficiency, new technologies, and self-generation alternatives, including the willingness and ability of large industrial customers to develop co-generation facilities that greatly reduce their grid demand. In addition, changes to regulatory policies, such as those that allow customers to directly access the market to procure wholesale energy or those that incentivize development and utilization of new, developing, or alternative sources of generation, could, and in some instances, have already reduced sales, and other non-traditional procurements, such as virtual purchase power agreements or "behind the meter" generation solutions, could, and in some instances have already limited growth opportunities or reduced sales at the Utility operating companies. Some of these factors are inherently cyclical or temporary in nature, such as the weather or economic conditions, and typically do not have a long-lasting effect on Entergy's operating results.  Others, such as the organic turnover of appliances and lighting and their replacement with more efficient ones and adoption of newer technologies, including smart thermostats, new building codes, distributed energy resources, energy storage, demand side management, and rooftop solar, are having a more permanent effect by reducing sales growth rates from historical norms. As a result of these emerging efficiencies and technologies, the Utility operating companies may lose customers or experience lower average use per customer in the residential and commercial classes, and continuing advances have the potential to further limit sales or sales growth in the future. The Utility operating companies also may face competition from other companies offering products and services to Entergy's customers. Advances in technology and changes in laws or regulations offer alternative methods of producing and/or consuming energy, some potentially at a reduced cost. The Utility operating companies' future success will depend, in part, on our ability to anticipate and successfully adapt to technological developments and to offer services that meet customer demand. Failure to keep pace or manage the related costs of such changes or additional technology investments may limit customer growth and have an adverse effect on the Utility operating companies' operations or could make the Utility operating companies less competitive and negatively impact Entergy's and the Utility operating companies' financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Electricity sales to industrial customers, in particular, benefit from steady economic growth and favorable commodity markets; however, industrial sales are or may be sensitive to changes in laws, regulations, trade-related governmental actions, including tariffs and other measures, or conditions in the markets in which its customers operate.  Negative changes in any of these or other factors, particularly sustained economic downturns or sluggishness, have the potential to result in slower sales growth or sales declines and increased bad debt expense, which could materially affect Entergy's and the Utility operating companies' results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity. The Utility operating companies also may not realize anticipated or expected growth in industrial sales, such as from large data center customers or electrification opportunities to help such customers achieve their environmental sustainability goals. This could occur because of changes in customers' goals or business priorities, changes in environmental policies and priorities of federal, state, and local officials and other stakeholders, competition from other companies, or decisions by such customers to seek to achieve such objectives or goals through methods not offered by Entergy. Nuclear Operating, Shutdown, and Regulatory Risks (Entergy Corporation, Entergy Arkansas, Entergy Louisiana, and System Energy)

Entergy's business is capital intensive and dependent upon its ability to access capital at reasonable rates and other terms.  At times there are also spikes in the price for natural gas and other commodities that increase the liquidity requirements of the Utility operating companies.  In addition, Entergy's and the Registrant Subsidiaries' liquidity needs could significantly increase in the event of a hurricane or other weather-related or unforeseen disaster similar to that experienced in Entergy's service area with Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in 2005, Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike in 2008, Hurricane Isaac in 2012, Hurricane Laura, Hurricane Delta, and Hurricane Zeta in 2020, and Winter Storm Uri and Hurricane Ida in 2021.  The occurrence of one or more contingencies, including an adverse decision or a delay in regulatory recovery of fuel or purchased power costs or storm restoration costs, an acceleration of payments or decreased credit lines, less cash flow from operations than expected, changes in regulation, governmental policy (including tax and trade policy, such as increased tariffs) or governmental programs (including tax incentives or tax credits, loans, grants, guarantees, and other subsidies), or other unknown or unforeseen events, could cause the financing needs of Entergy and its subsidiaries to increase.  In addition, accessing the debt capital markets more frequently in these situations may result in an increase in leverage.  Material leverage increases could negatively affect the credit ratings of Entergy, the Utility operating companies, and System Energy, which in turn could negatively affect access to the capital markets. The inability to raise capital on favorable terms, particularly during times of high interest rates and inflation, and uncertainty or reduced liquidity in the capital markets, could negatively affect Entergy and its subsidiaries' ability to maintain and to expand their businesses.  Access to capital markets could be restricted and/or borrowing costs could be increased due to certain sources of debt and equity capital being unwilling to invest in offerings to fund fossil fuel projects or companies that are impacted by extreme weather events or other catastrophes, that rely on fossil fuels, or that are impacted by risks related to climate change, or such sources of capital de-emphasizing their interest in investing in clean or renewable energy projects. Additionally, shifts in governmental policy surrounding tax incentives or tax credits, loans, grants, guarantees, and other subsidies may increase borrowing costs. Factors beyond Entergy's control may create uncertainty that could increase its cost of capital or impair its ability to access the capital markets, including the ability to draw on its bank credit facilities.  These factors include depressed economic conditions, a recession, increasing interest rates, inflation, sanctions, trade restrictions, political instability, war, terrorism, and extreme volatility in the debt, equity, or credit markets. Entergy and its subsidiaries are unable to predict the degree of success they will have in renewing or replacing their credit facilities as they come up for renewal.  Moreover, the size, terms, and covenants of any new credit facilities may not be comparable to, and may be more restrictive than, existing facilities.  If Entergy and its subsidiaries are unable to access the credit and capital markets on terms that are reasonable, they may have to delay raising capital, issue shorter-term securities, and/or bear an unfavorable cost of capital, which, in turn, could impact their ability to grow their businesses, decrease earnings, significantly reduce financial flexibility, and/or limit Entergy Corporation's ability to sustain its current common stock dividend level.

Entergy Corporation is a holding company with no material revenue generating operations of its own or material assets other than the stock of its subsidiaries. Accordingly, all of its operations are conducted by its subsidiaries. Entergy Corporation has provided, and may continue to provide, capital contributions or debt financing to its subsidiaries, which would reduce the funds available to meet its financial obligations, including making interest and principal payments on outstanding indebtedness, and to pay dividends on Entergy's common stock. Entergy Corporation's ability to satisfy its financial obligations, including the payment of interest and principal on its outstanding debt, and to pay dividends on its common stock depends on the payment to it of dividends or distributions by its subsidiaries. The subsidiaries of Entergy Corporation are separate and distinct legal entities and have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay any dividends or make distributions to Entergy Corporation. The ability of such subsidiaries to make payments of dividends or distributions to Entergy Corporation depends on their results of operations and cash flows and other items affecting retained earnings, and on any applicable legal, regulatory, or contractual limitations on subsidiaries' ability to pay such dividends or distributions. Prior to providing funds to Entergy Corporation, such subsidiaries have financial and regulatory obligations that must be satisfied, including among others, debt service and, in the case of Entergy Utility Holding Company, LLC and Entergy Texas, dividends and distributions on preferred securities. Any distributions from the Registrant Subsidiaries other than Entergy Texas and System Energy are paid directly to Entergy Utility Holding Company, LLC and are therefore subject to prior payment of distributions on its preferred securities.

Entergy and its subsidiaries' future prospects and results of operations significantly depend on their ability to successfully implement their business strategies, including executing on their growth strategy and achieving Entergy's climate goals and commitments, which are subject to business, regulatory, economic, shareholder activism and other risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond their control. As a result, Entergy and its subsidiaries may be unable to fully achieve the anticipated results of such strategies. Entergy and its subsidiaries anticipate a high level of load growth in their industrial and large commercial customer segments, including from large data centers owned by a small number of large customers. Entergy and its subsidiaries may be unsuccessful in capturing such opportunities or the opportunities to serve these new large customers may not materialize to the degree currently expected. Entergy and its subsidiaries also may not have access to the capital needed to finance the incremental growth on terms and conditions satisfactory to Entergy or its subsidiaries and consistent with the maintenance of satisfactory credit ratings. Entergy and its subsidiaries may fail to execute within currently expected time frames or within currently expected costs, due to a number of factors, including failure to obtain, or any delay in obtaining, regulatory approval, shortages of qualified labor, supply chain constraints, other cost pressures, or inadequate project management and execution. Entergy and its subsidiaries may not be able to adequately protect contractually against the risks inherent in relying on such rapid growth within a small number of large customers concentrated in a single industry. These customers may represent a high percentage of total sales, revenues, and cash flow with respect to the applicable Utility operating company and thereby create business and credit concentration risks which Entergy and its subsidiaries may not be able to fully mitigate. Additionally, Entergy and its subsidiaries have pursued and may continue to pursue strategic transactions including merger, acquisition, divestiture, joint venture, restructuring, or other strategic transactions. For example, each of Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans have entered into purchase and sale agreements to sell their respective regulated natural gas local distribution company businesses to a third-party. Also, a significant portion of Entergy's utility business plan over the next several years includes the construction and/or purchase of several natural gas plants and solar facilities. These or other transactions and plans are or may become subject to regulatory approval and other material conditions or contingencies, including increased costs or delays resulting from supply chain disruptions, import tariffs, and other issues. The failure to complete these transactions or plans or any future strategic transaction successfully or on a timely basis could have an adverse effect on Entergy's or its subsidiaries' financial condition or results of operations and the market's perception of Entergy's ability to execute its strategy. Further, these transactions, and any completed or future strategic transactions, involve substantial risks, including the following: - acquired businesses or assets may not produce revenues, earnings, or cash flow at anticipated levels;- acquired businesses or assets could have environmental, permitting, or other problems for which contractual protections prove inadequate;- Entergy and/or its subsidiaries may assume liabilities that were not disclosed to them, that exceed their estimates, or for which their rights to indemnification from the seller are limited;- Entergy may experience issues integrating businesses into its internal controls over financial reporting;- the acquisition or disposition of a business could divert management's attention from other business concerns;- Entergy and/or its subsidiaries may be unable to obtain the necessary regulatory or governmental approvals to close a transaction, such approvals may be granted subject to terms that are unacceptable, or Entergy or its subsidiaries otherwise may be unable to achieve anticipated regulatory treatment of any such transaction or acquired business or assets;- shifting governmental policies may impact government support for capital projects, including tax incentives or tax credits, grants, guarantees, or other subsidies; and - Entergy or its subsidiaries otherwise may be unable to achieve the full strategic and financial benefits that they anticipate from the transaction, or such benefits may be delayed or may not occur at all. Entergy and its subsidiaries may not be successful in managing these or any other significant risks that they may encounter in acquiring or divesting a business, or engaging in other strategic transactions, which could have a material effect on their business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Subject to pending regulatory approvals, certain Utility operating companies are planning to make significant infrastructure investments in new solar projects, natural gas power plants, and other transmission and generation assets to power new large-scale data centers. These infrastructure investments are being made primarily in connection with electric service agreements with a small number of customer representing significant new load to provide power for new data centers being constructed to support artificial intelligence and other technology capabilities. The Utility operating companies continue to explore similar opportunities and may engage in additional similar transactions in the future. This concentration of business with a small number of customers in an industry based on emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, presents several risks for these Utility operating companies. These technologies and their related business applications have developed rapidly in recent years and continue to develop. Entergy cannot predict the rate at which or the extent to which these emerging technologies will be broadly adopted and successful as business models. Changes in industry practice or advances in these technologies could reduce the demand for electricity to power data centers. Additionally, these customers may experience business downturn, which may cause the loss of these customers or may weaken their financial condition. Similarly, customers may reduce their investment in these new technologies or abandon them entirely. Any of these situations may result in the early termination or non-renewal of these customers' electric service agreements or renewal on terms less favorable to the Utility operating company. Our electric service agreements with these customers include provisions for early termination payments in certain circumstances, but they do not fully protect against these risks. In the event a customer does not renew its electric service agreement, the Utility operating companies are also subject to the risk that they may not be able to enter into services agreements with new customers or that the terms of any new agreements may be less favorable to the Utility operating companies. While the assets constructed to serve these customers may otherwise be useful in the Utility operating companies' business, there is a risk that the Utility operating companies may not be able to fully recover their investment in or a return on those assets, either through retail or wholesale rates. The small number of such customers and scale of the investment required to support those customers exacerbates this risk. The success of these Utility operating companies' investments in new generation and transmission assets to support large-scale data centers depends on the successful completion of large capital projects to provide electricity to these data centers. As discussed elsewhere in this report, the ability to complete large capital projects is dependent upon several factors, including, among others, the ability to obtain financing of such projects on satisfactory terms and conditions, secure regulatory permits, secure sufficient land for the siting of solar panels and power generation facilities, obtain and maintain MISO interconnection queue positions and otherwise obtain necessary interconnection or transmission service in MISO, and hire qualified labor, as well as levels of public support or opposition to these projects, and suppliers' and contractors' performance and ability to fulfill their obligations under contracts. Successful completion of these projects may be further influenced by changes in law or regulation, such as environmental compliance requirements or MISO tariff rules and processes, direct and indirect trade and tariff issues, including those associated with imported solar panels, as well as supply chain delays or disruptions, workforce challenges, and other events beyond the control of these Utility operating companies. The occurrence of any of these events may materially affect the schedule, cost, and performance of these projects. If these projects are significantly delayed or become subject to cost overruns or cancellation, Entergy and the Utility operating companies could incur additional costs and termination payments or face increased risk of potential write-offs of their investments in these projects or incur other costs or risks, including MISO market risks or charges. For additional information concerning these Utility operating companies' investments in new generation to support large-scale data centers, see "Utility - Property and Other Generation Resources - Provision of Service to Large-Scale Data Center Customers" in Part I, Item 1. The business, results of operations and financial condition of Entergy and these Utility operating companies could be materially adversely affected as a result of any or all of these factors.

As with any company, Entergy's and its Registrant Subsidiaries' reputations are an important element of their ability to effectively conduct their businesses. Entergy's and its Registrant Subsidiaries' reputations could be harmed by a variety of factors, including: failure of a generating asset or supporting infrastructure; failure to restore power after a hurricane or other severe weather event or catastrophe in a manner perceived as timely by regulators or customers; the incurrence of storm restoration costs perceived as excessive by regulators or customers; failure to effectively manage land and other natural resources; failure to obtain land and secure permits for infrastructure investments; failure to execute on and/or obtain regulatory approvals for generation, transmission, or other facilities; real or perceived violations of environmental regulations, including those related to climate change; real or perceived issues surrounding the safety or environmental concerns regarding carbon capture and storage; real or perceived issues with Entergy's safety culture; challenges or negative reaction to Entergy's diversity, inclusion, and belonging efforts, or work culture and environment; challenges or negative reaction to Entergy's climate goals; inability to meet their climate goals, including as a result of increased sales growth, or to achieve their human capital strategies, or failure to demonstrate meaningful progress toward such goals or strategies; deterioration in relations with bargaining employees and labor unions representing them; inability to effectively prepare for major storms and other weather events, including accelerated resilience planning and projects and challenges in execution thereof, including obtaining necessary regulatory approvals for scope and timing of such plans and projects; inability to keep their electricity rates stable; inability to provide quality customer service, including timely and accurate billing; involvement in a class-action or other high-profile lawsuit; significant delays in, or termination of, construction projects, including as a result of or in connection with changes in regulation or governmental policy (such as tax and trade policy, including increased tariffs and supply chain challenges) or governmental programs (such as tax incentives or tax credits, loans, grants, guarantees, and other subsidies); occurrence of or responses to cyber attacks, data breaches or physical- or cyber- security vulnerabilities; acts or omissions of Entergy management or acts or omissions of a contractor or other third party working with or for Entergy or its Registrant Subsidiaries, which actually or perceivably reflect negatively on Entergy or its Registrant Subsidiaries; measures taken to offset reductions in demand or to supply rising demand; a significant dispute with one of Entergy's or its Registrant Subsidiaries' customers or other stakeholders; or negative political and public sentiment resulting in a significant amount of adverse press coverage and other adverse statements affecting Entergy or its Registrant Subsidiaries. Addressing any adverse publicity or regulatory scrutiny is time consuming and expensive and, regardless of the factual basis for the assertions being made (or lack thereof), can have a negative impact on the reputations of Entergy or its Registrant Subsidiaries, on the morale and performance of their employees, and on their relationships with their respective regulators, customers, investors, and commercial counterparties. Adverse publicity or regulatory scrutiny may also have a negative impact on Entergy or its Registrant Subsidiaries' ability to take timely advantage of various business or market opportunities. Deterioration in Entergy's or its Registrant Subsidiaries' reputations may harm Entergy's or its Registrant Subsidiaries' relationships with their customers, regulators, and other stakeholders, may increase their cost of doing business, may interfere with their ability to attract and retain a qualified, inclusive, and diverse workforce with a wide variety of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, may impact Entergy's or its Registrant Subsidiaries' ability to raise debt capital, and may potentially lead to the enactment of new laws and regulations, or the modification of existing laws and regulations, that negatively affect the way Entergy or its Registrant Subsidiaries conduct their business, or may have a material adverse effect on their financial condition and results of operations.