Oklahoma Natural Gas is the latest utility to go before Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners in the company’s request for the use of state bonds to assist with ONG’s February 2021 storm costs of more than $1.3 billion.
ONG’s request will be handled in a regular meeting of the Commission at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Listed as Cause No. PUD 202100079, ONG is seeking a “Financing Order approving securitization of costs arising from the February 2021 winter weather event pursuant to the “February 2021 Regulated Utility Consumer Protection Act.”
Last year, ONG reached a settlement and stipulation with the Attorney General, the Public Utilities Division of the OCC and Walmart that the company’s extreme purchase costs from the storm amounted to $1,284,101,405. The agreement stated that the costs should be “deemed prudent” and “be recoverable from
customers as fair, just and reasonable expenses and prudently incurred.”
Per the stipulation the other costs by ONG and the Oklahoma Development Finance Authority totaled $73,198,595 which included carrying costs and consulting costs. As a result, the settlement showed the total amount of ONG’s extreme purchase and extraordinary costs over the storm totaled $1,357,300,000.
The settlement asks the Corporation Commission to approve a 25-year scheduled amortization for cost recovery.
In late 2021, the Commission approved a rate hike amounting to an average 34 cents more a month for the average residential customer. But the OCC stated that the rate hike was not connected to the February winter storm costs.