Three former Republican state representatives requested the legislative leaders to research the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and what they known as “deliberate misinformation” relating to plans to recoup billions in power prices from winter storm Uri in February 2021.
Former representatives Mike Reynolds, Porter Davis and Mike Ritze wrote to the leaders of the state Senate, House of Representatives and the governor’s workplace on Monday to request an investigation.
“This still appears to be what may likely be the largest public corruption scandal in state history,” Reynolds advised News 9.
Related: ‘Who Got The Money?’ : State Utility Regulators Seek 2021 Winter Storm Expenses
The securitization plan allowed utility firms, together with OG&E, ONG and PSO to repay greater than $4.5 billion in gas prices throughout the 2021 winter storm over the following a number of many years within the type of month-to-month charges to clients.
The ratepayer-backed bonds ought to have by no means been accepted, Reynolds mentioned. “Just the publicly traded companies got the securitization to pass along the cost to the ratepayers. Those should have been passed along to their stockholders.”
Spokespeople for the Senate president and the governor’s workplace declined to touch upon the previous lawmakers’ request. The workplace of the Speaker of the House didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Corporation Commissioners Todd Hiett and Dana Murphy mentioned in separate statements that permitting utilities to unfold the fee over clients’ payments for 20 years or extra allowed for probably the most modest enhance to month-to-month payments.
Read Commissioner Murphy’s assertion under:
The Commission’s determination to permit utilities to make use of securitization to recuperate – at no revenue – the gas prices from Winter Storm URI was the results of a protracted authorized public course of, with all recommendations for alternate options welcome. There have been none supplied that supplied as low a month-to-month fee for the client as securitization.
Commissioner Bob Anthony uncared for to attend a lot of the hearings and supplied no viable different options to assist the customers he purports to guard. Criticism, accusations and misinformation are all he has supplied. Oklahomans ought to actually anticipate extra from a commissioner serving in his thirty fourth yr.
I welcome any investigation into the Commission’s dealing with of securitization.
Read Commissioner Hiett’s assertion under:
Securitization of the report gas prices from the February 2021 winter storm URI meant the bottom potential month-to-month funds for ratepayers. There was no different possibility supplied that didn’t end in increased month-to-month prices.
Securitization was accomplished solely in any case choices have been completely explored within the effort to minimize the month-to-month affect on ratepayers. These prices have been the results of pure fuel sellers in an unregulated fuel market drastically upping the worth utilities needed to pay for the gas wanted to maintain lights on and furnaces lit for his or her clients throughout the storm.
The precise value of securitization was increased than initially estimated partly due to a delay in getting the bonds to market as a consequence of frivolous and unsuccessful challenges by Mr. Reynolds within the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Even with the higher-than-expected value, the month-to-month value was nonetheless under any of the alternate options the Commission needed to take into account.
All Commission conferences on securitization, together with the numerous hours of testimony and proof offered within the instances, have been held in public.
put up credit score to Source link