(The Center Square) - Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company has lowered its request for a rate hike, but some customers are still concerned.
The utility company's new proposal will raise the bill for the average residential customer by just under $3 a month, according to Donald Rowlett, director of regulatory policy and compliance for OG&E. The original proposal would have raised the average residential customer's bill by just under $10 a month.
The last time OG&E raised its rates was September 2019, Rowlett said.
The lower rates came after negotiation with several parties, including Walmart, the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives and the Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma, OG&E said during the Oklahoma Corporation Commission meeting Monday. It is now seeking to increase its total revenue by $45 million, instead of $163.5 million, a nearly $119 million decrease from its original proposal.
"There was great thoughtfulness in arriving at the $45 million change," said Rowlett. "While it's not zero, it is significantly less than what the company proposed and, at 2.3%, it is much lower than the increases that are being experienced in other parts of the economy."
Dropping OG&E's proposed revenue increase from $163.5 to $45 million represented an overall decrease of 73% from the company's original proposal for rate hikes.
Rowlett said the increase would still be "significantly below" the current average rate of inflation.
"I believe the settlement is in the public interest. It's a significant change from what the company originally proposed," he said
Some customers spoke against the proposed rate increases during public comment, including Reverend Tim Luschen, who pastors a church in Oklahoma City.
"Looking back now we can see that in this last year that we are already $6,000 over on our utility budget," said Luschen.
He said large utility bills that have been difficult to anticipate led the church to pull resources from other areas to cover the payments.
"We have a clinic, we have a food pantry, we do all kinds of other social ministry, but this cuts back on our ability to do the ministry that we find that is essential for our church," Luschen said. "I don't believe that this is a good time considering that OG&E is still able to pay their stockholders' dividends and to still compensate their management and executives at a generous rate. This is not a good time as we're coming out of COVID to ask for the ratepayers to pay any additional cost that will impact their lives."
Monday's meeting was heard before an administrative law judge. No action was taken.
via Oklahoma's Center Square News