Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. on Dec. 20 unveiled plans to purchase two power plants with a combined capacity of 506 MW for about $53 million.

The OGE Energy Corp. subsidiary will acquire the 360-MW Shady Point coal and natural gas-fired plant in Le Flore County, Okla., from AES Corp., and the 146-MW Oklahoma Cogeneration natural gas-fired, combined-cycle facility in Oklahoma City from OK Cogen Management LLC subsidiary Oklahoma Cogeneration LLC. CHP Holdings LLC owns 25% stake in the Oklahoma Cogen facility, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

OG&E has been buying the output from both facilities under power purchase agreements. The agreement for Shady Point's output expires at the end of 2018, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, and the agreement for the cogen plant's output runs to August 2019.

OGE Energy Chairman, President and CEO Sean Trauschke said the company will change the operation and will lower emissions of the Shady Point facility after the acquisition.

"We expect operational changes to reduce coal use by more than 50% initially, and we'll continue to explore opportunities to reduce costs and emissions not only at Shady Point, but also systemwide," Trauschke said.

He also said that the deals will save customers $40 million to $50 million per year and will help mitigate the negative economic impact Shady Point's closure would have had.

The acquisitions are subject to approvals from Oklahoma and Arkansas regulators.