Nov. 4--BRATTLEBORO -- If Vermont refuses to allow Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to spin off into a wholly independent company called Enexus, Entergy just might have a back-up plan.

According to the Dow Jones Newswire, Entergy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer J. Wayne Leonard said a possible alternative could be to spin off its utility businesses into Enexus and keep its merchant plants under the Entergy umbrella.

Entergy announced two years ago that it wanted to spin off five of its nuclear reactors -- Vermont Yankee, Indian Point and FitzPatrick in New York, Palisades in Michigan and Pilgrim in Massachusetts -- into Enexus.

Those power plants are considered merchant plants because they sell power at market rates rather than through regulated rates.

Entergy has received approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission to go ahead with the spinoff.

The company does not need approval from Michigan or Massachusetts to push forward, but both the Vermont Public Service Board and the New York Public Service Commission have the authority to nix the deal in their respective states.

Vermont's PSB is currently reviewing whether the spinoff should receive a certificate of public good, which would allow Yankee to be transferred to Enexus.

The New York PSC is also considering all of the ramifications of the proposal.

Leonard, speaking at the Edison

Electric Institute conference on Tuesday, said the company would consider spinning off its utility businesses instead of the nuclear power plants to accomplish the same goal, according to the Dow Jones report.

Spinning off its utilities rather than its merchant plants would take longer and require more regulatory approval, said Leonard, according to Dow Jones.

However, wrote Michael Burns, Entergy's senior communications specialist in corporate and national media relations, in an e-mail to the Reformer, Leonard's comments "were only illustrative."

"There are no plans to spin off the utility business," wrote Burns. "We continue to believe that the spin-off of the non-utility nuclear business, as proposed today, is the best alternative to achieve the objectives for all stakeholders."

Entergy is continuing its efforts to receive regulatory approval from both Vermont and New York, wrote Burns, "With the objective of ultimate resolution around the end of the year."

The purpose of the spinoff is to retire Entergy debt and reward its stockholders. Enexus would have no assets besides the actual physical power plants and the potential revenues from electricity sales.

Entergy's plan to finance Enexus' spin off and its operations include debt swaps, letters of credit and parental guarantees.

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