State Reps. Tom Gann and Kevin West have filed yet another State Supreme Court challenge of an Corporation Commission approval of a utility rate hike because it involved votes by Commissioner Todd Hiett. It was their sixth such appeal of Hiett’s participation in rate hike approvals.
In a filing on Monday, August 11, the two Republican legislators challenged the July 23 approval by Corporation Commissioners of a $41,078,183 million rate hike for Oklahoma Natural Gas Company. The rate hike had an impact of $1.69 more a month on residential customers and low income customers pay 57 cents more a month. It was approed on a 3-0 vote. The increase was part of a Feb. 2025 request by ONG for a Performance Base Rate review of its 2024 costs.
The two legislators want a Supreme Court decision because “the
issues raised on appeal involve areas of law undecided in Oklahoma, and the issues concern matters which will affect public policy and any decision is likely to have widespread impact.”
They previously filed appeals of rate hikes decided in part by Commissioner Hiett for Public Service Company of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company. Reps. Gann and West also contend they have identified at least 25 other utility cases “tainted by the alleged criminal conduct of Commissioner Todd Hiett – cases in which Hiett is actively participating despite the fact that they are obviously matters in which Hiett’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned and thereby from which he is required to disqualify himself according to the substantially similar language of both State Ethics Rule 4.7 and Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 2.11.”
The cases, according to the filings, are worth billions of dollars to the monopoly public utility companies and “their millions of captive customers in Oklahoma.”
“Further, the OCC has potentially hundreds of cases impacted by the agency’s misinterpretation and/or wholesale disregard of 17 O.S. § 13 resulting in its recent penchant for admitting and relying upon inadmissible evidence. Once again, these cases are worth billions.”
Their latest appeal also challenged the use of the word “audit” by the Commission “in regards to $3 billion of 2021 Winter Storm Uri fuel and purchased power costs were securitized into ratepayer-backed bonds at a total cost of some $5 billion to more than a million Oklahoma customers of OG&E, ONG, PSO and Summit.”
They said their request to the Supreme Court was also based on “irregularities in the record the Court may request to be rectified.”
“What the OCC has been calling “PUD Audit pursuant to 74 O.S. § 9078” does not exist in the record. Nor do the utility’s monthly servicer certificates provided under its agreement with the ODFA, its semi-annual “true-up” adjustment submissions to the OCC’s Public Utility Division, the bonds’ transcript (including the serving agreement), or any information about the bonds’ issuance costs or ongoing financing costs – other than some attachments and references by Commissioner Anthony in his filings in other cases also provided herein – all of which, directly or indirectly, were required by the statute and/or ONG’s Final Financing Order to be at issue in this case.”