Monticello plant will close in January

Luminant announced Friday plans to retire its Monticello Power Plant in Titus County. In total, approximately 1,800 MW of power will be taken offline in January of 2018.

Curt Morgan, Vistra Energy's president and chief executive officer, said, "For more than 40 years, Monticello employees have generated reliable power for Texans, and we honor and recognize their service. But the market's unprecedented low power price environment has profoundly impacted its operating revenues and no longer supports continued investment."

Luminant estimates that approximately 200 employees will be impacted by Monticello's retirement. Eligible and affected employees will be offered severance benefits and outplacement assistance. The company will also assist employees who are interested in pursuing open positions within our fleet.
Morgan continued, "This was a difficult decision made after a year of careful analysis. We are sensitive to the consequences of our decision on employees and members of the local community, with whom we have worked closely for decades. Luminant will be coordinating with civic leadership to prepare for the impacts of the transition."

As part of the retirement process, today Luminant filed a notice with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas ("ERCOT"), which will trigger a reliability review. If ERCOT determines the units are not needed for reliability following this 60-day review, Luminant expects to stop plant operations on Jan. 4, 2018.

Luminant will take the necessary steps to responsibly decommission the facility in accordance with all federal and state regulations. In addition, they will continue the ongoing reclamation work at the plant's mines, which ceased active operations in the spring of 2016.

The company estimates it will record one-time charges of approximately $20-25 million in the third quarter of 2017 related to the retirement, including employee-related severance costs and non-cash charges for materials inventory and the acceleration of Luminant's mining reclamation obligations.