Not letting up on his criticsm of the move by state regulators to approve billions of dollars in added costs from the 2021 Winter Storm Uri, Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony had intended to present the testimony of a financial expert who agrees with him.
Whether Hall of Fame accountant David Greenwell will be allowed to testify at the 1:30 p.m. meeting of the Commission is another matter. He was to present his beliefs in a 10-minute presentation about the bond costs and added financial burden on ratepayers of the utilities that used the bonds.
But Tuesday afternoon, Commission Chairman Todd Hiett, in a move characterized by some as an attempt to muzzle Greenwell’s criticism, inserted an addition to the meeting agenda.
He introduced “Discussion, possible action, and possible public comment, if authorized, on whether proceeding with Item V is procedurally appropriate, including consideration of any concerns with the timeline of the referenced filing given the schedule announced in the case and for which notice was provided in the case, and given that Item V is posted to only allow one commenter to make a presentation in a matter where multiple commenters
submitted numerous filings.”
In an earlier filing by Anthony and as reported by OK Energy Today, he stated that Greenwell, a former Oklahoma City Council members and longtime CPA, concluded that none of the commission’s reported audits related to the storm are lawful.
What Greenwell’s expert conclusions raise are questions about whether there were “false pretenses” made when the bonds were approved by two of the three commissioners, Anthony excluded. He voted no.
It raises questions about the truthfulness of commission staff who claimed the Commission’s Public Utility Division had performed required audits of the costs presented by the utilities who used th bonds.
Greenwell is a former chairman of the Oklahoma Accountancy Board and determined the claimed audits of the winter storm do not meet requirements of state law..
He stated so in a 41-page filing in OG&E’s rate case.
“From my research, it does not appear the audit activities overseen by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission have complied with the auditing requirements specified in the statute establishing the 2021 Winter Storm bond program
“This compliance failure apparently occurred with respect to the utilities’ original February 2021 Winter Storm Uri costs and to the treatment of the subsequent financing costs incurred by using ratepayer-backed bonds. Consequently, this assessment applies both to the OCC’s past ‘audit’ activities and those it claims are ongoing,” continued Greenwell.
Greenwell is a Certified Fraud Examiner and also Certified in Financial Forensics and declared that none of the corporation commisson’s storm audits were conducted by independent and licensed CPAs as required by state law.
“The consequences of this failure to conduct a lawful ‘timely audit of all costs requested for recovery prior to the utility being authorized to recover costs’ may potentially have been significant,” Greenwell wrote in the early July filing.
