Company: EAI
Filing Date: 2025-02-18
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000065984-25-000012
Chunk: 350

Company: ENTERGY ARKANSAS, LLC
Filing Date: 2025-02-18
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 350
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 require the financial statements to reflect the effects of rate regulation, including the recording of regulatory assets and liabilities.  The Company assesses whether the regulatory assets and regulatory liabilities continue to meet the criteria for probable future recovery or settlement at each balance sheet date and when regulatory events occur. This assessment includes consideration of recent rate orders, historical regulatory treatment for similar costs, and factors such as changes in applicable regulatory and political environments. While the Company has indicated it expects to recover costs from customers through regulated rates, there is a risk that the FERC will not approve: (1) full recovery of the costs of providing utility service, or (2) full recovery of amounts invested in the utility business and a reasonable return on that investment.

We identified the impact of rate regulation as a critical audit matter due to the judgments made by management to support its assertions about impacted account balances and disclosures and the high degree of subjectivity involved in assessing the impact of future regulatory orders on the financial statements. Management judgments include assessing the (1) likelihood of recovery in future rates of incurred costs and the (2) likelihood of refunds to customers. Auditing management’s judgments regarding the outcome of future decisions by the FERC, recovery in future rates of regulatory assets and refunds or future reductions in rates related to regulatory liabilities involved specialized knowledge of accounting for rate regulation and the rate setting process due to its inherent complexities and auditor judgment to evaluate management estimates and the subjectivity of audit evidence.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures related to the uncertainty of future decisions by the FERC, recovery in future rates of regulatory assets and refunds or future reductions in rates related to regulatory liabilities included the following, among others:

•We tested the effectiveness of management’s controls over the evaluation of the likelihood of (1) the recovery in future rates of regulatory assets, and (2) a refund or a future reduction in rates that should be reported as regulatory liabilities. We also tested the effectiveness of management’s controls over the initial recognition of amounts as regulatory assets or liabilities and the monitoring and evaluation of regulatory developments that may affect the likelihood of recovering costs in future rates or of a future reduction in rates.

•We evaluated the Company’s disclosures related to the impacts of rate regulation, including the balances recorded and regulatory developments.

•We read relevant regulatory orders issued by the FERC for the Company to assess the likelihood of recovery in future rates or of a future reduction in rates based on precedents of the FERC’s treatment of similar costs under similar circumstances. We evaluated external information and