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Utilities

Utilities

Arkansas's utilities — Entergy, CenterPoint, SWEPCo, and the electrical cooperatives — are essentially monopolies. The agreed upon "check" on those monopolies is the Arkansas Public Service Commission. Periodically, when the energy companies cry for a rate hike, there's hearings before the Commission, with the companies on one side and consumer activists and lawyers from the Attorney General's office on the other. The utilities typically get their revenue bump, but just as typically, they compromise for a lower rate hike than they wanted.