OG&E deal commits customers to pay $1 billion

VOICE leaders are deeply concerned that the Corporation Commission Public Utilities Division, OG&E, and other interveners have reached a Joint Stipulation and Settlement Agreement for fuel charges related to the February 2021 Freeze. This agreement sticks electricity consumers with nearly a billion dollars in fuel charges and interest payments for the next 28 years. While OG&E continues to increase its dividend to shareholders, the ratepayer will be paying on their debt for decades to come. 

Anyone with a basic understanding of car or home loans understands that changing the term of the loan only spreads out the damage, it does not address why we are taking the loan in the first place. Fuel charges related to the February freeze still leave many questions for the public. Questions like who got paid, how much they were paid and whether those charges were reasonable and prudent. 

“The people who are least able to bear the weight are being asked to carry the brunt of the financial burden. Pastors and congregations are doing everything they can to help, but the gap is too wide. We desperately need OG&E to lean into the 'public' part of its public-private utility designation. Shareholders have opted into risk, but our fixed and low income neighbors depend on affordable energy costs so that they can put food on the table.” Reverend Dr. Lori Walke, Mayflower UCC 

If the Corporation Commission approves this agreement, they remove all pressure to get to the bottom of this. It incentivizes natural gas companies, utilities and other critical infrastructure to continue to make the same mistakes. It is not acceptable for the public to bear all of the cost of the failure of these companies to prepare for predicted extreme weather.

The agreement also fails to address potential price gouging. Submitted testimony suggests that while demand increased, costs of fuel rose far, far higher. Consumers should not bear all of the cost of broken commodity markets. OG&E and other utilities had other options for securing and ensuring adequate natural gas and electricity generation were available in a pinch. They should never have been so exposed to such exorbitant prices to begin with.    

We need the Corporation Commission to look out for the public. OG&E and other players in these industries need to bear more of the cost for their mistakes. Any instances of price gouging need to be fully accounted for before agreements are made to stick ratepayers with these costs.