Entergy misses quarterly profit estimates as operating costs weigh

• Regulators approved rate updates for Entergy Arkansas and Entergy Texas, while Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans filed annual formula rate plans and extension requests.
• Utilities have been seeking to raise customer power bills to fund infrastructure upgrades, as the country's electrical grids face growing demand from industry electrification and data-center expansions.
• On its post-earnings call, the company said it expects $7 billion in customer bill benefits for agreements signed till date.
• Entergy's operating expenses rose 7.3% year-on-year in the second quarter to $2.67 billion.
• The company said it expects an increase of about 5 to 10 cents in third-quarter operating and maintenance expenses year-on-year.
• Entergy's debt levels grew 13.8% to $34.7 billion as of June 30.
• However, the company said its weather-adjusted retail sales rose 5.7%, buoyed by higher industrial usage.
• The New Orleans-based utility's industrial sales for the quarter grew 9.8% to 17,164 gigawatt hours.

U.S. electric utility Entergy on Wednesday narrowly missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit, weighed down by elevated operation and maintenance costs, sending its shares down nearly 2% in afternoon trading.

Rising power consumption from large industrial users and emerging high-load customers have lifted demand for electricity, but higher operating expenses, financing costs and capital requirements are weighing on margins and near-term profit growth for utilities.

For the quarter ended June 30, Entergy posted an adjusted profit of $1.03 per share, compared with analysts' estimates of $1.04, according to data compiled by LSEG.