State Competitiveness: Louisiana

Louisiana has at least one approved utility green tariff program. Among the state’s five largest utilities by commercial and industrial (C&I) electricity sales, those offering green tariffs account for about 75% of total C&I sales within this top-five group, indicating substantial access for large customers.

Louisiana permits municipal ownership of utilities statewide, subject to certain requirements.

Louisiana state policy requires utilities to offer net metering up to specific system sizes. There is no defined aggregated capacity limit for owned systems, 1% of utility’s peak demand for leased systems.

Louisiana has a requirement for single-source competitive procurement. While state policy does not encourage or require all-source procurement solicitations, about 90% of the state’s customers are in a wholesale market.

Louisiana participates in two wholesale markets, Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and Southwest Power Pool (SPP). MISO covers about 90% of the state’s customers and SPP covers about 10% of the state’s electricity customers.

Louisiana participates in two wholesale markets (MISO and SPP), with open membership available to customers in MISO (about 90% of the state’s customers) and limited-voting participation available in SPP (about 10% of the state’s electricity customers), a strong-level of civil society participation opportunity overall.

Louisiana participates in two wholesale markets (MISO and SPP), with delegated state authority in MISO (about 90% of the state’s customers) and SPP (about 10% of the state’s electricity customers), a moderate-level of wholesale market state authority.

Louisiana third-party PPA policy is “unclear or unknown” overall. Sleeved PPAs are permitted for non-residential customers with >5MW of demand.

Louisiana does not have a state consumer advocate office that represents ratepayers.

Louisiana does not permit residential electricity customers retail provider.

Louisiana does not permit commercial electricity customers retail provider choice.

Louisiana’s electric utility sector, including distribution utilities, is highly concentrated. The state has a customer concentration (HHI) score of 2,371, which exceeds the 1,800 threshold that signals a highly concentrated market. This indicates that a small number of utilities serve customers across the state.

Electricity generation in Louisiana is provided by a small number of power producers. The state has a generation concentration (HHI) score of 2,397, which exceeds the 1,800 threshold that signals a highly concentrated market, indicating that electricity production is controlled by a small number of entities, suggesting very limited competition.

Louisiana does not have a state policy allowing for CCA.

Louisiana does not have a statewide interconnection standard, rather guidelines including a standard application, with size limits of 300kW for non-residential systems and 25 kW for residential systems.