With little fanfare, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission voted 2-1 to uphold its original approval of massive energy expansion projects for Oklahoma Gas and Electric.
“We don’t need to rehash this anymore,” said Commissioner Brian Bingman whose original proposed order was okayed two weeks ago in a vote that led to OG&E calling for Commissioner Todd Hiett’s recusal from the case. It also led to a request by two organizations, Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers and AARP to ask for reconsideration as they argued there was not enough protection for consumers in allowing OG&E to move forward with the large projects in Kiamichi, McAlester and eastern Oklahoma County.
“The motion to reconsider is gonna be denied,” said Bingman.
“No surprise but I will dissent on this order,” added Commissioner Hiett who opposed Bingman’s proposal two weeks ago. He said there should be “further protection” for consumers regarding the utility’s expansion of natural gas power for its Horseshoe Lake power plant in eastern Oklahoma County.
“It was not the lowest cost alternative available,” said Hiett, referencing criticism that OG&E did not choose the lowest bid in the expansion of the power plant. It was the same argument used by OIEC and AARP in their opposition to Bingman’s original order.
When the original order was first voted on, Hiett’s claims against OG&E led to its subsequent request for his recusal.
““We should stand up against that—we’re the only thing ratepayers have.”
He contended in the public meeting in mid-November that OG&E had helped draw up Bingman’s order and called it “nothing but propaganda for CWIP” and a “complete dismantling” of the original order. Bingman’s office later denied it had any assistance from the utility.
With rapid succession Thursday, the commissioners cited their votes….Kim David yes, Brian Bingman yes and Todd Hiett no. The entire reconsideration and vote took less than 5 minutes as the commission moved quickly onto another item on their agenda for the meeting.
The commission’s approval includes pre-approval for construction of Horseshoe Lake units 13 and 14 or the addition of two large natural-gas combustion turbines totaling 448 megawatts at the plant. They are expected to be operational by the end of 2029.
Other projects are at the utility’s Kiamichi plant and its operation in Pittsburg County. Capacity Purchase Agreements for those sites were approved as part of the OCC order.
But the order did not include any approval for the Construction Work in Progress request made by OG&E for its Black Kettle battery storage project at Enid. The Black Kettle CWIP came to light in October and drew opposition from the Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma.