Oklahoma’s House of Representatives had a busy Energy Day on Wednesday, passing a number of energy related bills, including the debated HB2747.
As promoted and authored by Rep. Trey Caldwell (R-Faxon), the bill focused on transmission projects and the ownership of the projects by utilities. Caldwell has repeatedly denied the measure is a Right of First Refusal bill, something claimed by former Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth.
During Wednesday’s presentation he was asked directly by Rep. John Waldron, D-Tulsa if the measure was a ROFR bill.
“No,” replied Rep. Caldwell as he moved on to the next question by legislators. The legislator added later that “other states that tried ROFR laws have been ruled against by the courts.”
He later explained the bill allows utilities to own transmission projects but also requires competitive bidding. Caldwell also claimed that the measure if adopted into law “will encourage natural gas usage in Oklahoma” because it includes the requirement of approval of such projects to be powered by natural gas.
The measure also allows utilities constructing such transmission projects to seek authority during construction to implement with Corporation Commission approval, the inclusion of costs to ratepayers. Rep. Caldwell told House members the move would allow utilities to recover costs and put “downward pressure” on the final costs to consumers. He also maintained that eventually costs to ratepayers could be lowered 15% to 20% in the longterm.
There was no debate before the House voted 68-28 to move the bill onto the Senate.
Also passed were:
- House Bill 1374 – allows businesses producing electricity only for itself to avoid regulation as a public utility (86-0)
- House Bill 2142 – limits wind turbines near military instillations and operations (94-0)
- House Bill 2156 – places setbacks on solar energy and industrial battery storage facilities (73-23)
- House Bill 2157 – establishes an advisory committee to study renewable energy solutions and its benefits to the agriculture industry (73-20)
- House Bill 2747 – adjusts various standards related to electric utilities (68-28)
- House Bill 2752 – expands prohibitions on wind turbine construction via eminent domain to include solar, hydrogen and various related infrastructure (83-11)
- House Bill 2756 – requires electric utilities seeking to build new facilities to solicit and acquire a Certificate of Authority from the Corporation Commission (84-10)
The bills will now move to the Senate for further consideration.