HOLLY RIDGE — Livingston Parish President Randy Delatte shared a letter from Entergy Louisiana President and CEO Phillip May on Sunday outlining the company's proposed agreement with Meta to protect consumers from high utility bills caused by data centers. 

Gov. Jeff Landry and Entergy, along with 200 companies, previously signed the "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" introduced by President Donald Trump in an effort to lower costs for households.

In the letter, Entergy claims that Meta will fund the entirety of the new energy infrastructure required for the facility in Richland Parish, including generation, transmission, battery storage and related grid updates. 

"This means Louisiana families and businesses will not be responsible for Meta's infrastructure costs, ensuring that growth in our state's technology sector does not shift costs to ratepayers," May wrote.

The agreement is expected to provide over $2.65 billion in customer savings over a 20-year period, reducing storm charges, lowering grid resiliency costs and improving long-term affordability for Entergy customers in the state. 

May also discussed the potential economic benefits of the new data center, including thousands of construction jobs, permanent technical positions and significant increases in local tax revenues. 

Teachers in Richland Parish recently received annual bonuses of up to $50,000 due to the increased tax revenues from the project, with public schools and youth programs in the area also receiving support through the Data Center Community Action Grants.