The two Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners who approved millions of dollars in winter storm cost financing for CenterPoint Energy on Thursday defended their move saying the utility “did not make a profit on the fuel costs to be recovered.”
Commission chairwoman Dana Murphy and Commissioner Todd Hiett who supported the finance order went to the extent of issuing a special statement hours after their vote.
Murphy said today’s order was the result of an “exhaustive” review of the evidence, testimony and proposals in the case. She maintained that it will allow the unprecedented costs from the storm to be recovered over a longer period of time, rather than being billed all at once.
The order allowed CenterPoint Energy to move ahead with the securitization plan but the utility won’t be allowed to impose a fee on its customers who terminate their natural gas service to switch to a different fuel source.
“While the law and the record in this case support the Order’s provisions to lower the monthly charge CenterPoint customers will pay because of the storm, we weren’t persuaded to impose a termination fee,” said Murphy in the special statement.
She and Hiett claimed that the monthly impact to ratepayers will be far less than otherwise, stating that if billed all at once, the cost would have been $538.07 per CenterPoint customer.
“Securitization allows the cost to be spread out up to 15 years, dropping the monthly payment to an estimated $4.36 for the average residential customer.”
Commissioner Hiett said the commission’s Public Utilities Division made sure CenterPoint made no profit off the plan.
“While the legislature’s development and approval of the securitization law after the winter storm lessens the blow for customers, there is no getting around the fact that bills are going to increase,” Hiett continued. “It is important to remember that these costs were incurred to keep life and property intact during a terrible winter storm. However, at the same time we must continue the effort to explore ways to lessen the chances that this could happen again.”