Three former members of the Oklahoma legislature asked the legislature this week to begin an investigation into what they called “disinformation’ on the part of two Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners and their approval of billions of dollars in winter securitization bonds.
Former Reps. Porter H. Davis, Mike Reynolds and Mike Ritze made the request after legislative leaders and Gov. Kevin Stitt were notified last week by two commissioners of the commission’s failure to act in the constitutionally required time frame on an OGE fuel adjustment clause request. The commissioners were Dana Murphy and Todd Hiett. Commissioner Bob Anthony chose not to support the letter and issued a dissenting opinion.
“In reality, the letter was an attempt to whitewash the developing scandal at the OCC,” charged the three former House members.
Their call of an investigation stated:
“The Oklahoma Legislature should immediately investigate deliberate disinformation coming from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission – disinformation that mislead legislators to overwhelmingly support the special interests’ “securitization” scheme that cost Oklahoma households $2 billion dollars more than the utilities said was owed for 2021 Winter Storm costs, and disinformation that is currently being used to cover-up what Commissioner Bob Anthony has called “the worst special-interest and insider rip-off of Oklahoma ratepayers I’ve seen in the last 30 years.””
The three former legislators concluded their letter to the legislature by declaring, “In our opinion, the Oklahoma Legislature needs its own investigation into the deceit used to promote the billion-dollar “securitization” scheme, “regulatory capture” at the OCC, rigging of RFPs, and resignations/departures and/or enrichment of key state officials at the Commission, Attorney General and State Treasurer offices.”
Davis, Reynolds and Ritze were also among those who filed Supreme Court challenges of the Corporation Commission’s use of the bonds created by the 2021 Regulated Utility Consumer Protection Act. The court upheld the Act.
Full letter follows;
To: Members of the Oklahoma Legislature
From: former Rep. Porter H. Davis
former Rep. Mike Reynolds
former Rep. Mike Ritze
November 28, 2022
Last week the House Speaker, Senate Pro Tem, and Governor received a one-page letter from two Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners that 17 O.S. § 253 requires to be “a written explanation of the Commission’s failure” to approve or deny a recently-effective near-$500 million public utility charge by the state’s largest electric utility. In reality, the letter was an attempt to whitewash the developing scandal at the OCC.
The Oklahoma Legislature should immediately investigate deliberate disinformation coming from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission – disinformation that mislead legislators to overwhelmingly support the special interests’ “securitization” scheme that cost Oklahoma households $2 billion dollars more than the utilities said was owed for 2021 Winter Storm costs, and disinformation that is currently being used to cover-up what Commissioner Bob Anthony has called “the worst special-interest and insider rip-off of Oklahoma ratepayers I’ve seen in the last 30 years.”
As testimony clearly demonstrated, the above-mentioned half-billion-dollar OCC “Show Cause” case (PUD 2022-000097) is related to last year’s securitization of $4.7 billion in 2021 Winter Storm Uri charges for OG&E, ONG, PSO and Summit customers using ratepayer-backed bonds. As Commissioner Anthony has shown, that $4.7 billion contains about a billion dollars for 20-28 years of unnecessary inflated interest, insider fees and other expenses, plus another $1 billion extra thanks to open-ended “blank check” bond structures that removed basic consumer protections and benefited financial insiders by putting all the transaction risk on ratepayers.
All Oklahoma House and Senate members should read Commissioner Anthony’s recent dissenting opinion (https://public.occ.ok.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=12477307) decrying “threats, coercion, administrative ‘irregularities’ and withholding information” that he says are obstructing his attempts to investigate the wrongdoing he outlined in his “Report Card on Securitization: Anatomy of a State Government Screw-Up” (https://public.occ.ok.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id= 12294753). Can you imagine Commission staff being instructed not to respond to a Commissioner’s request for documents belonging to his own agency?
In our opinion, the Oklahoma Legislature needs its own investigation into the deceit used to promote the billion-dollar “securitization” scheme, “regulatory capture” at the OCC, rigging of RFPs, and resignations/departures and/or enrichment of key state officials at the Commission, Attorney General and State Treasurer offices.
Respectfully,
Porter H. Davis
Mike Reynolds
J. Mike Ritze
