The amount of February 2021 winter storm costs in Oklahoma could be at least $6 billion according to one consumer group official.
“An estimated $6 billion could be extracted from customers of utilities,” declared Deborah Thompson, an attorney who represents AARP Oklahoma in utility rate cases before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.
During a live Facebook AARP event on Wednesday, she spoke of the consumer group’s efforts to fight moves by the state’s utilities to put the massive winter storm costs on the backs of residential customers. The moves involve the use of securitization and state bonds to spread costs out over 20 to 25 years.
“It will allow companies to take funds, wrap them up in bonds and result in very big bills,” she said in explaining how residential customers will be affected.
The Corporation Commission’s Public Utilities Division recently filed an effort to get its hands around the winter storm costs borne by all the utilities in the state. It’s something the AARP and other organizations would also like to see, but the there is a high likelihood that utilities will balk at offering more transparency into their winter storm costs. They have sought and won confidentiality agreements from the commission in some of their rate cases.
“We don’t believe there’s any basis for this information to be withheld,” said Thompson. “We will advocate for transparency because the public needs to know where their money’s going.”
AARP is monitoring the current OG&E case set to be heard by an Oklahoma Supreme Court referee on January 26. The case was presented by the Oklahoma Development Finance Authority and already is opposed by at least two former legislators who contend the 2021 act approved by the legislature is unconstitutional.
In the Facebook event, Thompson didn’t venture to call it unconstitutional.
“The legislation is the first of its kind but it’s been used in other states and there is some guidance in the other states,” she said when asked about the challenges.
While the OG&E finance agreement won approval from the Corporation Commission, ONG’s request for similar action on an estimated $1.3 billion in costs will be considered by regulators on Thursday.