While Oklahoma City and Electric pushes forward with a rate hike request that could boost customers residential bills by another $19 a month, the utility announced this week the lowering of fuel charges will result in a drop of $25 a month for the same customers.
It comes as the utility is lowering the fuel charge to customers and the changes went into effect on Wednesday, May 1. The change will be reflected in the June bills.
“The average residential customer bill will be $25 lower this summer compared to last summer because of the lower fuel charge and depending on energy usage,” said Aaron Cooper, OG&E Manager of Corporate Communications.
“Before this adjustment, about 30% of our customers’ electric bill was for fuel. With this change, the fuel charge will now be about 20% of our customers’ electric bill.”
This is the second time in the last six months OG&E reduced the fuel charge, with the last reduction on November 1, 2023.
OG&E made it clear the fuel charge in a bill can change up to two times a year, depending on the actual cost of fuel to produce electricity. But the company made it clear, it does not profit from fuel and has implemented cost-saving strategies for fuel purhases to minimize the impact on customer bills. The utility indicated it sources and purchases the fuel at the lowest cost possible.
Customers can learn more about how the cost of fuel impacts their bill at OGE.com/fuel.