To the editors:
Oklahoma Gas and Electric (OG&E) recently gave themselves a $69.6 million rate increase at ratepayers’ expense. They couldn’t wait for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to approve or deny their $92.5 million rate-increase request. So a technicality in the law permitted the big utility to just raise their own rates. It sure doesn’t work like that at my job.
You would think OG&E is barely squeaking by financially, but actually the company reported revenue of $2.2 billion and net income of $271 million for 2015, but paid no income taxes because of accumulated federal and state tax benefits earned in prior years. On Jan. 1, the company still held more than $150 million in unused state tax credits.
Citizens should oppose OG&E’s $92.5 million rate increase. It would double the base rate – that’s the amount we pay no matter how much or little electricity we use – from $13 to $26 per month. The rate increase would also create a more regressive “demand charge” pay structure by allowing the big utility to identify our highest 15 minutes of electric use during the month and multiply that kilowatt use by $2.75 as an additional charge on our bills.
No publicly regulated utility in the U.S. has ever been allowed to place a demand charge on residential users. We don’t want to be first. Now is not the time. Please tell the Oklahoma Corporation Commission at (405) 521-2211 before it’s too late.
Phyllis Bryant
Bethany
(Editor’s Note: NonDoc believes in creating a responsible forum for the rational and respectful discussion of topics and ideas. As such, we run Letters to the Editors of 300 words and reserve the right to edit lightly for style and grammar. To submit a letter for potential publication, please write to letters@nondoc.com.)
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