Only a week after Oklahoma Gas and Electric informed Corporation Commissioners it intended to file a rate hike request, it has withdrawn the request and attributes the summer implementation of a new law created by SB998.
The utility notified OK Energy Today on Thursday it had withdrawn the previous filing thereby delaying an upcoming rate review until a future date.
Kimber Shoop,Director of Regulatory at OG&E cited the recent passage of Senate Bill 998 as the reason for the delay, which will become effective 90 days after the current Oklahoma legislative session ends.
“This new law impacts the timing of when OG&E files rate reviews and allows OG&E to avoid a rate review this summer,” he stated. “OG&E remains committed to providing reliable energy at the lowest cost possible. We will continue to keep customers informed of any changes.”
OG&E had originally made the filing on May 16 “seeking to modify rates and charges for OG&E’s Oklahoma jurisdictional customers.
On May 16, 2025, OG&E submitted a Notice of Intent to file a general rate case with a March 31, 2025 ending test year and estimated filing date of June 30, 2025.”
But things changed and on May 27, the utility withdrew the request.
“OG&E herein withdraws that previously filed Notice of Intent. With the passage of SB 998, which will become effective ninety (90) days following the end of the current Oklahoma legislative session, OG&E believes that a delay in the timing of the rate case proceeding is appropriate. Moreover, a delay in the rate case also would be appropriate given OG&E’s May 19, 2025 preapproval application under 17 O.S. § 286(C) and the Company’s sensitivity to the Commission’s current workload.”
The filing by attorneys for the Thompson Tillotson law firm in Oklahoma City explained OG&E intended to “refile at the appropriate time.”
Two aspects of such a rate review could involve the decision. One is that the new law, once it becomes effective, will force Corporation Commissioners to make a regulatory decision 60 days sooner than the current 240 days as required by law. The request by a utility would apply if the “electric generation facility uses natural gas as its primary fuel source.”
The second important part of the law allows “Construction While in Progress” charges to paid by ratepayers.
“The Commission shall also consider rules which may permit
an electric utility to begin to recover return on or and return of
Construction-Work-In-Progress expenses prior to commercial operation of a newly constructed electric generation facility subject to the provisions of this subsection, provided the newly constructed electric generation facility utilizes natural gas as its primary fuel source.”