One of the three Republican legislators who took Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett to court over the sexual abuse allegations against him, filed another appeal with the Supreme Court on Thursday, this one challenging the recently-approved PSO rate hike.
The challenge by Rep. Tom Gann, Inola, came only days after the court dismissed the appeal he and Reps. Kevin West of Moore and Rick West of Heavener had filed of the corporation commission’s order of a $127 million rate hike for OG&E. Gann’s appeal is of a $120 million rate hike approved last month for Public Service Company of Oklahoma and came within a few days of a 30-day appeals deadline.
The Supreme Court dismissed their original appeal of the OGE case on Monday, Feb. 10, saying it had been filed too early. In a press release, the legislators said the dismisal “quickly proved they were undeterred.”
Gann’s filing on Thursday of the $119.5 million rate increase approved by commissioners on Jan. 15 for PSO, contends Commissioner Todd Hiett violated state ethics rules by participating in the case involving an attorney with direct knowledge of alleged criminal conduct by Hiett.
On Aug. 7, 2024, The Oklahoman reported that two female OCC employees alleged they witnessed or experienced alleged criminal conduct by Hiett – including drunk driving and sexual harassment – during and after a law firm reception at an Oklahoma City bar in June 2023.
A November filing by then-Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony further revealed the women also told The Oklahoman Hiett had allegedly exposed himself. The filing also alleged one of the women may have received a “hush money” pay raise just weeks after the incident.
“Hiett has not denied any of the allegations against him, including drunk driving and indecent exposure,” Gann told the Court in his petition.
His Supreme Court appeal wants the Supreme Court to decide “whether the Oklahoma Corporation Commission violated the constitutionally protected due process rights of the captive customers of monopoly public utility company PSO by Hiett’s active participation in the case.”
The PSO case was approved on a 2-0 vote as newly sworn-in commissioner Brian Bingman chose to abstain from the vote on his first day as a commissioner. He had not taken part in the investigation of the case. Commissioners Hiett and Kim David voted in support of PSO.
Gann’s petition also argues that the OCC failed to provide a required audit of PSO’s $1.1 billion of ratepayer-backed bonds issued after the February 2021 Winter Storm. Extra charges to pay off those bonds are expected to appear on customers’ monthly bills for 20 years.
Gann also wants the Supreme Court to decide if the commissioners were wrong in “disallowing a properly posted presentastion and public comment by former Oklahoma Accountancy Board President David Greenwell on July 23, 2024.”
“We are not deterred by the court’s dismissal of our initial OG&E appeal,” Rick West said. “We appealed early to try to keep OG&E’s new rate increase refundable, which would have been worth hundreds of millions of dollars to customers. Waiting to appeal the commission’s final order can only impact OG&E’s rates going forward, but otherwise, the court was clear that waiting will not hurt our case.”
“It seems our appeal already has had an impact,” Kevin West said.
On Tuesday, the OCC posted an amended agenda for its Feb. 18 meeting, including discussion about the OG&E rate case and possible votes to reopen the record “to determine whether discovery, further hearing, and/or additional testimony is necessary to address the issues raised.”
“Are they going to put one of their famous one-page ‘audits’ in the record before voting on the final order?” Kevin West asked. ” Will Brian Bingman get involved in this disaster, or will Hiett violate state ethics rules and cast the deciding vote again? We’ll just have to see. At least they know people are paying attention.”
Bingman took over longtime Commissioner Bob Anthony’s seat at the OCC in January. Anthony voted against the OG&E rate increase in November, and Bingman abstained from voting on the PSO rate increase at his first OCC meeting in January.
The OCC and PSO have 20 days to respond to Gann’s new appeal petition at the Supreme Court.
Read the pleadings in the new PSO rate case appeal at the Oklahoma Supreme Court here:
https://www.oscn.net/dockets/GetCaseInformation.aspx?db=appellate&number=122861
Read the pleadings and orders in the original OG&E rate case appeal at the Oklahoma Supreme Court here:
https://www.oscn.net/dockets/GetCaseInformation.aspx?db=appellate&number=122735
