OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma Corporation Commission Chairman Todd Hiett was chosen recently to fill a leadership vacancy in the Regional State Committee of the Southwest Power Pool.
The Regional State Committee of the SPP approved the nomination committee’s selection of Hiett earlier this month to serve as its vice president.
He replaces Minnesota Commissioner John Tuma, who was to serve as the commission’s vice president this year but was promoted after the incoming president abruptly resigned. Hiett joined the Regional State Committee to replace former Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Dana Murphy, who termed out after 14 years with the state agency.
Hiett’s election is important to Oklahoma because the Sooner State “represents a significant portion of the load” – the amount of electricity used within the Southwest Power Pool. In calendar year 2023 Oklahoma “produced 27.1% of all the energy generated by SPP’s member utilities, and the state represented 24.9% of SPP’s total demand,” SPP spokesperson Derek Wingfield informed Southwest Ledger.
The SPP is a regional power transmission organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas. SPP has members and manages the electric grid in 15 states: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming, and has customers in all or parts of 23 states and provinces.
The SPP encompasses all of Oklahoma and Kansas and most of Nebraska, South and North Dakota, but only portions of the other member states, many of which are sparsely populated. As for Texas, most of the electric grid in the Lone Star State is managed by ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
The SPP is a nonprofit corporation mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure reliable supplies of power, adequate transmission infrastructure and competitive wholesale electricity prices on behalf of its members.
SPP member costs are allocated according to load, Hiett said, so Oklahoma pays “by far, a significant – and proportionate – share of the cost of electricity transmission” in the SPP region.
His role on the Regional State Committee will entail “a lot of work,” Hiett said. The group meets quarterly, for two days, and conducts educational sessions to “keep us abreast” about issues that affect the SPP.
Meanwhile, “We carry a heavy load already” on the three-member Corporation Commission, which regulates motor carriers, oil and gas exploration and production, and public utilities such as Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, Summit Utilities, and Oklahoma Natural Gas Co.