Despite a pair of consumer organizations claiming a slate of Oklahoma Gas & Electric projects lack consumer protections and will “unreasonably” raise residential rates, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission denied a motion Dec. 11 to reconsider its final order advancing the plans.
On Nov. 13, the three-member Corporation Commission voted 2-1 to authorize pre-approval of expanded electricity projects OG&E is pursuing, including two new generation units at its Horseshoe Lake natural gas power plant. Commissioner Todd Hiett, who called an OG&E request for his recusal in the rate case “absurd,” cast the lone dissent.
Other projects in the order include a five-year capacity purchase agreement with the natural-gas-fired Kiamichi Power Partners facility in Pittsburg County and a 20-year agreement with the Black Kettle Energy Storage Project in Woodward.
In November, Hiett said OG&E was spreading “propaganda” regarding what ratepayers could expect to save should the company be granted permission to self-construct two new gas turbines at the Horseshoe Lake power plant. Hiett also argued a lack of consumer protections in the commission’s final order would unreasonably increase the cost for customers, contrary to OG&E’s claims.
Shortly after that order passed, AARP Oklahoma and Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers filed a motion to reconsider the decision, arguing the Corporation Commission’s order was “not in the public interest” and would result in “rates that are unfair to OG&E’s customers.”
“The final order authorizes OG&E’s acquisition of Horseshoe Lake and the Kiamichi offer, despite the fact that the selection of those resources will not result in electric rates that are fair and just and reasonable,” said Tom Schroedter, executive director of Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers. “They will not result in electric rates that are the lowest reasonable cost for Oklahoma rate payers.”
AARP Oklahoma state director Sean Voskuhl said the situation “will saddle OG&E’s residential customers and businesses with tens of millions of dollars in excessive costs.”
“The commission’s order lacks customer protections and will result in substantially higher electric bills,” Voskuhl said. “Oklahoma ratepayers, especially those on fixed incomes, are struggling with these continuous rate hikes with no end in sight.”
On Dec. 11, the Corporation Commission voted on AARP and OIEC’s reconsideration motion, but Commissioner Kim David and Commissioner Brian Bingman again sided with OG&E, and Hiett sat as the lone dissenter once more.
After the Dec. 11 meeting, Hiett spoke to media and reiterated his primary points of opposition to the order, namely a lack of specific consumer protections. Hiett said he was hoping to remove the utility cost rider from the final order and have that matter taken up at a future rate hearing “to make sure there’s no duplicate payments,” as those costs may already be included in base rates.
In alignment with Hiett’s concerns, OIEC and AARP argued in their motion to reconsider that the self-construction bid OG&E selected for the Horseshoe Lake generators ranked No. 26 “by OG&E’s own evaluation,” in terms of value for bids submitted. He argued that decision would be unnecessarily expensive and require ratepayers to shoulder millions more in costs.
Christi Woodworth, OG&E vice president of marketing and communication, said the company is working to address consumer protection concerns in the future, including implementing large-load tariffs “to protect [OG&E] customers from the impact of (AI) data centers,” which are driving up electricity demand and rates nationwide. Multiple such facilities are planned or under construction in Oklahoma.
OG&E sought Hiett’s recusal, claimed bias after ‘slanderous comments’
While Hiett ultimately cast the same “no” vote Dec. 11 as he did on the November order, OG&E initially sought to have him prohibited from voting on the motion to reconsider altogether.
During an occasionally fiery meeting of the Corporation Commission on Dec. 4, sparks flew between Hiett and OG&E representatives who demanded he recuse himself from further votes on their projects based on what they called “slanderous comments” he made about the company Nov. 13.
Hiett delivered a harsh rebuke of OG&E’s formal request to open the Dec. 4 discussion.
“I find it to be very disturbing that a regulated utility would take action to intimidate and squelch the voice of one of its regulators for simply doing his job. I think ratepayers will be outraged, and rightly so,” Hiett said. “A regulated monopoly is arguing in a filing that a commissioner is biased against utility rate increases and favoring ratepayers, and therefore he should be recused. That is absolutely absurd.”
Hiett further argued that OG&E’s request for his recusal had “absolutely no legal merit.”
“I will not recuse from this case,” Hiett said. “What they’re saying to me and my colleagues is, ‘Do what we want, or else.'”
OG&E’s senior regulatory attorney, Chase Snodgrass, requested an opportunity to respond to Hiett’s opening remarks on the matter, but he was not granted time to do so before moving on to the hearing.
Snodgrass decried OEIC and AARP’s reconsideration motion as an effort to “re-litigate issues already ordered and decided by the commission” and defended the company’s RFP process on the projects in question as “rigorous.”
“The final order was the result of an extensive and robust process with detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law,” Snodgrass said.
He also disputed Hiett’s claim that the Horseshoe Lake project bid was ranked No. 26, claiming that listing was pulled from “raw data with multiple duplicate bids” rather than a final examination.
“The commission’s job is to regulate,” Snodgrass said, “not to manage, not to substitute its judgement for the company’s.”
