Empire District Electric Company’s consumer savings plan focus of coming hearing

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission plans a special meeting this month to consider a $325 million consumer savings plan proposed by Empire District Electric Company which wants to become more dependent on wind power in southwest Missouri.

The company also serves far northeast Oklahoma and the Corporation Commission has regulatory jurisdiction over the company’s utility service.

The meeting will be held Wednesday, July 18 at 10 a.m. as part of a hearing by an Administrative Law Judge. There will be no vote held on the hearing date by the Corporation Commission.

The hearing will focus on case PUD 201700471 and be held in room 301 of the Jim Thorpe building at the State Capitol.

The Commission had earlier set a May date for a special meeting on the $325 million plan as reported by OK Energy Today.

The hearing will focus on a joint stipulation and settlement agreement that proposed the savings for customers over 20-years. Residential customers would see a savings of about $10 a month beginning in 2020.

The agreement stems from the Company’s Oct. 31, 2017 filing in which Empire proposed acquiring up to 800 megaatts of located wind generation using federal tax incentives in conjuntion with tax equity partners. At the same time, the company wants to retire a coal-fired unit that will require significant capital investment by April 2019 in order to remain in compliance with environmental regulations.

Empire, in the agreement stated it was not seeking the recovery of any costs in the move and is in the process of conducting a competitive solicitation for the wind projects. It did not identify the wind projects except to state that they are to be located in the southwest Power Pool footprint.