Stitt asks Feds for a second round of disaster help
OKLAHOMA CITY – Both houses of the Oklahoma Legislature will hold hearings to examine the problems caused by February’s record-setting winter storm, two legislative leaders said Monday.
Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, and House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said lawmakers in each house will hold hearings to “examine the storm’s effect on utility bills and identify measures to prevent astronomically high utility bills after future storms.”
Treat and McCall made the announcement during a joint press conference with Gov. Kevin Stitt.
“All 101 House members are working to connect our districts with necessary aid in addition to taking calls from constituents who are very concerned about increased utility bills,” McCall said. “In addition to efforts in our districts, we have an obligation to examine the situation at the legislative level, as well. The House will conduct hearings on the matter to ascertain what needs to be done going forward.”
The call for the legislative review follows back-to-back winter storms which brought record-setting lows and heavy snow to the entire state. Because the low temperatures lasted for so long officials with the Southwest Power Pool, the Arkansas-based organization that control’s Oklahoma and 16 other states’ energy grid, issued a call for rolling blackouts.
Those blackouts drew a harsh reaction from the governor, lawmakers and energy customers. In some areas of the state electric customers were without power for close to two hours during sub-zero cold. “We stayed below 20 degrees for almost a week straight – the longest in 60 years,” Governor Stitt said.
As the storm continued, state agencies attempted to address problems with the energy grid. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the agency that regulates public utilities, approved an emergency order on February 16 which officials said was aimed at helping gas suppliers and power generators stabilize the electric grid and natural gas infrastructure in order to ensure essential service for public safety and welfare during the weather crisis.
Two days later, Stitt requested a federal disaster declaration from the White House. That request cleared the way for the state to access federal disaster funds and federal assistance programs.
President Joe Biden approved Stitt’s request on February 19.
The following week, on February 23, Stitt requested a second round of federal disaster assistance. The governor’s office issued a media statement saying it had asked the White House for additional federal aid for homeowners, renters, business owners and government entities impacted by the winter storm.
“This request continues my effort to turn over every rock and do everything we can to help Oklahomans recover from this historic storm,” the Governor said. “I appreciate President Biden’s initial actions and urge him to act quickly to approve this request, as well.”
Echoing Stitt, Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Mark Gower said the storms caused widespread damage and could cost local communities millions of dollars.
“This major disaster declaration will help Oklahoma families and allow local and state governments to seek help with eligible infrastructure repair costs,” he said.
While many Oklahomans continue to deal with the aftermath of the storms, in other states, such as Texas, the problems have been worse. There, many residents are seeing astronomical increases in their utility bills. Some residents have seen their bills jump to several thousand dollars from what is normally a bill of $75 to $100.
Those increases in utility costs, Oklahoma state Rep. Garry Mize said, are what lawmakers want to prevent.
“Every single county in our state was affected by last week’s winter weather,” said Mize, R-Guthrie. “Our constituents are worried about the storm’s impact on their utility bills, and as their elected officials we need to understand how prepared or unprepared Oklahoma was for this storm and what, if any, policy changes should be implemented in preparation for future storms.”
With pushback growing over the actions taken by the Southwest Power Pool and concerns about utility bill increases in the Sooner State, Oklahoma Natural Gas emailed its customers Wednesday warning them their monthly gas bill could increase.
“Your bill may be higher based on the amount of gas you used during the historic cold temperatures,” the company’s email said. “Your monthly bill is a combination of the amount of gas you use and the cost of gas. The extreme weather caused many customers to use more gas for heating their homes than they may have in prior years. The higher amount of gas used will be reflected on your bill, regardless of the price of gas.”
The utility said it does not mark up the price of natural gas, but added that the winter storm would have an impact on customer bills. “At this time, we can’t quantify what the impact on customer bills will be,” the email said. “We experienced much higher natural gas demand which resulted in a significant increase in natural gas market prices on a portion of the supply we purchased during this period.”
Both Stitt and the Legislature’s Republican leadership said they want to prevent future rolling blackouts and problems with the state’s energy grid.
“We want to get to the bottom of this and learn what we need to do so this never happens again,” the governor said. “We are going to turn over every rock until we find a solution.”