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Okla. state utility regulators will not increase OG&E's rates

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Okla. state utility regulators will not increase OG&E's rates

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission decided Sept. 19 to not increase Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co.'s rates, approving a settlement in line with an administrative law judge's earlier recommendation

OGE Energy Corp. subsidiary OG&E filed the $77.6 million rate hike request late last year, seeking a 9.9% return on equity. Commission staff and federal, state and commercial stakeholders agreed to the settlement in May keeping base rates flat.

Donald Rowlett, the managing director of regulatory affairs at OGE Energy, testified that there would not be a fixed customer charge increase, and that residential ratepayers would still pay a fixed rate of $13, according to a July report and recommendation on the rate case settlement by Administrative Law Judge Linda Foreman. The company had wanted to raise fixed monthly charges to $22, an additional $108 annually, or $9 more than the current monthly rate.

The proposed rate increase had been intended to cover capital costs associated with a $535 million scrubber project at OG&E's Sooner plant and a $75 million coal-to-natural gas conversion project at its Muskogee facility. However, Brian Alford, an OGE spokesman, said the projects would instead be offset by the elimination of a co-generation credit rider, which he said would result in savings in excess of $70 million annually. The settlement also accelerated the return of deferred tax savings related to the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

OCC Commissioner Dana Murphy noted that the decision would maintain rates for almost 850,000 Oklahomans.