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SPP and Member Utilities Successfully Achieve Western Expansion Milestone

LCG, April 2, 2026--Southwest Power Pool (SPP) today announced that the expansion of its service territory into the Western Interconnection has been a success. The milestone makes SPP the first regional transmission organization (RTO) with services spanning the Eastern and Western Interconnections. Its member organizations, which cover all or part of 17 states, can now benefit from a more operationally and geographically diverse integrated system.

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Holtec Achieves Milestone towards Restarting Palisades Nuclear Facility and Advances Plans to Build Two SMRs at Palisades Site

LCG, March 31, 2026--Holtec International yesterday announced that it successfully completed a milestone test necessary to return Holtec's Palisades Nuclear Generating Station to service. The 805-MW pressurized water reactor (PWR) is located in Michigan and was shut down by Entergy in May 2022. Holtec acquired the facility in June 2022 and has pursued a path to return the plant to service.

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Industry News

Western Resources, PNM Break Off Merger Talks

LCG, Aug. 14, 2001--Public Service Co. of New Mexico announced that talks with Western Resources Inc. on their proposed $4.4 billion agreement have broken off, but added that the deal isn't dead and the companies will try to resolve their differences.

PNM said in a news release yesterday that the two companies "are in disagreement about the future of the transaction" but Jeff Sterba, the company's chief executive, said "PNM remains committed to the strategic benefits of bringing the two companies' electric operations together."

Western Resources issued a statement saying that PNM's "characterization" that the Kansas company had broken off the talks was wrong. "We have continually expressed our willingness to work with PNM and believe the current transaction can be completed without significant modification of the economic terms," said David Wittig, Western's chief executive.

Recent rulings by the Kansas Corporation Commission appear to be the fly in the ointment. In one ruling last month, the commission blocked Western's restructuring plan, which would have split its regulated electric utilities off from its unregulated business. Western says the restructuring is an essential part of the merger. In another ruling, the regulators denied a $151 million rate increase for the regulated utilities.

Sterba agreed that the rulings were at the heart of the problem. "We continue to believe that the merger agreement with Western, as currently structured, cannot be consummated if the KCC orders stand and the KCC's expressed concerns are not addressed by Western," he said.

Western's two utilities, Kansas Power & Light Co. and Kansas Gas & Electric Co., serve 636,000 customers in the Sunflower State. Together, they are the state's largest electric company.

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