Proposed OG&E Rate Hike Lowered After Pushback

Oklahoma’s largest electric utility company will likely soon be raising electricity prices, but not nearly as much as they had hoped.

Wednesday, October 7th 2020, 5:35 pm



Oklahoma’s largest electric utility company will likely soon be raising electricity prices, but not nearly as much as they had hoped.

Last month, pamphlets went out in OG&E bills with plans for a 7% rate hike. They will likely receive a less than 1% increase.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission heard public comments over OG&E’s proposed rate hike on Wednesday.

Their enhancement plan includes pole upgrades and to new state of the art technology to reroute power during an outage to minimize effected customers.

Oklahoma City Public Schools' energy manager Justin Weathers told commissioners the hike would hurt the district already facing unexpected expenses from COVID-19.

“In our specific instance, we would be looking at an over half million dollars a year. Unfortunately, OG&E hasn’t been very forthcoming on what our utility increase would be, so it has put us in a very precarious position,” Weathers said.

The energy company which had a net income of $433 million in 2019, said the average user would see a $7 monthly increase in electric bills over five years.

On Monday, the Corporation Commission received a joint stipulation and settlement agreement between OG&E, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, industrial consumers and others, for a less than 1% increase.

“We negotiated with the public utility division of the (Corporation) Commission and the other intervenors to ensure that it was going to have the least impact on rates as possible,” Hunter, whose role in rate negations is to advocate on behalf of consumers, said. “What customers are getting here is better service, more reliable service.”

Under the agreement, most users will see a $0.52 increase per month for two years. The $810 million proposal now appears to be a $14 million two-year plan.

OG&E turned down interview requests Wednesday.

“I really feel like Oklahomans are going to benefit from this and they’re going to pay additionally with regard to the provision of service, but what they’re getting is important more quality more reliable service,” Hunter said.

The agreement must still be approved by the Corporation Commission. That could happen as early as Thursday.

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