Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Opposition continues to grow among state regulators to Entergy Corp.'s plans to spin off its transmission system to ITC Holdings Corp. Regulators say customers would pay hundreds of millions of dollars more to maintain high-voltage wires in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas while receiving mostly fuzzy benefits.

Staff members in the states have recommended regulatory commissions reject the deal, even after New Orleans-based Entergy and Michigan-based ITC won approval for the plan from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in June.

Entergy and ITC are now offering to offset rate increases for the first five years of ITC ownership in exchange for states approving the deal. Entergy would transfer its high-voltage lines to ITC, in exchange for ITC issuing Entergy shareholders enough stock to give them a majority of ITC shares.