OKLAHOMA CITY — Ten public utilities would be required to publicly itemize their expenditures from the historic winter storm last year, if the state Corporation Commission approves an application filed this month.
The proposal was filed by Brandy Wreath, director of the commission’s Public Utility Division, because of the extraordinary expenses incurred during the weather “anomaly.”
The storm “swept into Oklahoma and surrounding states” in February 2021, “impacting the supply, market pricing and demand for natural gas” throughout Oklahoma, Wreath noted. The storm brought “extreme” freezing temperatures, snow, freezing rain and wind, beginning on Feb. 7, and continuing through Valentine’s Day and for a time afterward.
During that “weather emergency” an “extraordinary spike” in demand occurred that “seriously threatened” the ability of the utility companies to obtain sufficient quantities of natural gas needed to serve their customers, Wreath recalled.
The utilities incurred “extraordinary costs” in providing “critical utility services” across Oklahoma during that period.
Wreath contends the companies should list publicly the expenses they logged between Feb. 7 and approximately Feb. 21 last year, and the amounts they paid to each provider for:
Ÿ natural gas;
Ÿ transportation services;
Ÿ transmission services;
Ÿ storage-related expenses;
Ÿ purchased power;
Ÿ other related expenses by type and provider.
Any penalties assessed in each category should be listed separately by provider and penalty type, Wreath suggested.
Providing that information would enable the general public to view summary information about the historic weather emergency on the Commission’s website “in one easily-accessible repository and in a uniform format,” Wreath wrote.
The filing is necessary “due to some of the extreme costs” incurred by the utilities during the weather emergency – expenses “which will be billed to ratepayers in future charges,” Wreath told the commission.
“These costs were not the result of normal market conditions, normal contracting, or normal usage,” he said. As a result, the related weather expenses should be made publicly available.
“We’re just asking, ‘Who got the money?’,” Wreath told the Southwest Ledger.
Utility companies from whom those details would be sought include:
Ÿ Oklahoma Natural Gas Co.
Ÿ Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co.
Ÿ Public Service Co. of Oklahoma
Ÿ CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp., d/b/a CenterPoint Energy Oklahoma Gas Co.
Ÿ Summit Utilities
Ÿ Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corp.
Ÿ Empire District Electric Co.
Ÿ Fort Cobb Fuel Authority
Ÿ Panhandle Natural Gas Inc.
Ÿ Canadian Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc.