Attorney General Hunter Files Response in Support of Bixby Landowners Opposing PSO Wind Catcher Route
Hunter: I support landowners’ rights to have concerns heard

OKLAHOMA CITY – Attorney General Mike Hunter has filed a motion in support of the city of Bixby and concerned area landowners, who are opposing the newly planned route of the Wind Catcher project’s power line.

The new route was pursued after Public Service Company of Oklahoma’s (PSO) original route through Osage County was changed in January. Affected residents and city officials were notified last month of the new route by mail.

City officials and landowners are asking the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) to postpone a July 2 hearing to allow the city time for further review of the case and to provide corporation commissioners with concerns.

Attorney General Hunter said because Bixby residents weren’t notified until last month of the new route, they were effectively disallowed from participating in any previous public hearings before the commission.

“I stand in support of the rights of the affected landowners and residents to have their voices and concerns heard by the commissioners,” Attorney General Hunter said. “This is a clear burden for the Bixby community and stands to hinder economic development in our state. I want to ensure the city’s interests are properly addressed.”

“From the beginning, our position has been that Wind Catcher does not meet the requirements for preapproval and cost recovery and should be denied by the commission. We also want to ensure customers are protected if PSO moves forward, with or without commission preapproval. Not hearing from residents along the new route would be a disservice to this great community.”

In motions filed with the OCC, Bixby officials write, PSO never formally notified the OCC of its plans to change the original route of the power line from Osage County to a southern route running through the city.

Bixby officials continue, PSO never updated its application or testimony to show the differences between routes, the increased cost and never addressed how the electric line may affect the health, safety and welfare of citizens of Oklahoma who may live near the line.

Attorney General Hunter has said PSO has failed on several fronts to qualify for preapproval and cost recovery, including failure to comply with the OCC’s competitive bidding rules, the inability to show an actual need for the additional generation capacity from the project and unrealistic assumptions as the basis for PSO’s estimated ratepayer savings.

His opposition has been joined by the OCC’s administrative law judge and the public utility division.

Read Attorney General Hunter’s response in support of the city of Bixby, here: .

Read Bixby’s filings with the OCC, here: .

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As they await a decision from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, planners behind a wind power project that would be the largest in the country this week heard complaints from concerned residents but also gained statewide industry support.

Public Service Company of Oklahoma on Wednesday announced four other energy companies had signed on with settlement agreements to join Walmart and the Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers, which signaled their support in late April.

Wind Catcher is a $4.5 billion project that includes a 300,000-acre wind farm to be built in Cimarron and Texas counties with a 360-mile transmission line and two substations that will connect to the power grid at Tulsa. The wind farm would be the largest in the U.S. and the power line would be the largest west of the Mississippi. It would supply power to PSO customers in Oklahoma and Southwestern Electric Power Co. customers in Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana. PSO’s share of the project is $1.39 billion.

A decision on the project’s cost-recovery plan is pending before the Corporation Commission, which last held a hearing on the subject March 14.

Read the complete story on tulsaworld.com

The Oklahoma Attorney General and the director of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s Public Utility Division stated in a regulatory filing late Monday they remain opposed to Public Service Co. of Oklahoma’s request to obtain preapproval to recover costs to build the Wind Catcher Connection project.

However, Attorney General Mike Hunter and Brandy Wreath, director of the utility division, did include a list of stipulations they could agree to as part of the filing, asking for the commission’s elected members to require those as part of any deal where the utility is granted the preapproval it seeks.

Hunter said his goal remains to guarantee Oklahomans are protected from potential financial harm.

“Our position has been clear from the beginning … this project does not meet the requirements for preapproval and cost recovery,” Hunter stated in a release issued by his office after the filing was made.

Read the complete story on NewsOK.com

The Empire State should keep its wrong-headed, draconian, expensive emissions cuts to itself. Not content with fouling up its own energy policy, New York — with some of the country’s highest electricity rates — wants to foul up Arkansas’s, Louisiana’s, and Oklahoma’s, too.

New York state’s government-employee pension fund, run by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, owns a $100 million stake in American Electric Power (AEP), which provides electricity in the three other states mentioned above, our states. What the federal government wisely chooses not to do, activist shareholders like DiNapoli are trying to do instead.

DiNapoli drafted a shareholder resolution that would have compelled AEP to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in line with “reduction needs defined by the Paris Climate Agreement,” which President Trump has vowed to leave. But before this resolution was even brought to a vote, AEP caved to DiNapoli’s threat. So our electricity policy is now being set in deep-blue Albany.

Meeting DiNapoli’s demands won’t be easy. AEP has pledged to slash its greenhouse-gas emissions to 60 percent below 2000 levels by 2030 and 80 percent below the same levels by 2050. Emissions cuts of this magnitude are so steep that the parties to the Paris Agreement wouldn’t even agree to anything like them.

Read the complete story on NationalReview.com

When I was governor in 2001, the wind industry made many promises. It promised us jobs but very few have been produced. It promised to manufacture here, but manufacturing is done out of state. It promised money for schools, but education as a whole is suffering and the industry refuses to help.

The wind industry’s claim that we have a moral obligation to honor our promises to them is nonsense when you consider it hasn’t honored one of its original promises to Oklahoma. The tax credit was designed to give a jump-start to a wind industry in its infancy in Oklahoma. It was sold as a low-cost way to broaden our already robust energy and economic development program. What was promised to cost the state less than $2 million annually when I was in office, has soared to estimates of $930 million over the next 10 years.

Industrial wind has been presented many opportunities to help find solutions to fix Oklahoma’s budget gap. When asked to participate in the Step Up plan and HB 1010XX to support education, these multibillion-dollar companies based outside of Oklahoma threatened to sue and file bankruptcy.

Private equity firms, international companies and Wall Street banks fund these wind farm operations and they have no vested interest in the future of Oklahoma, other than to harvest our natural resources and tax incentives. It’s time to stop taking money away from education, roads and services Oklahomans need, to write checks to this wealthy industry. For example, did you know that wind subsidies for one turbine exceed the starting salary of an Oklahoma teacher, even with the pay raise?

Read the complete story on NewsOK.com

Yesterday, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 888 which eliminates the ability for producers of wind energy to cash in unused subsidies. Gov. Frank Keating and Dr. Tom Coburn issued the following statements:

From Gov. Frank Keating:

“It’s time to end cash subsidies for wind production in Oklahoma. The wind production subsidy program has grown wildly beyond what was presented to me and lawmakers when we first approved the credits. As policymakers, when we realize that an act of government isn’t working or has gone way beyond what was intended, it is our duty to change it.” said former Gov. Frank Keating, who signed the first iteration of wind production tax credits when he served as the 25th Governor of Oklahoma.

“Protecting millions of Oklahomans from being forced to unjustly subsidize a wasteful and now unnecessary government program is far superior and morally right rather than adhering to a flawed scheme. The drafting of SB 888 treats refundable wind subsidies in a prospective manner, just as lawmakers have done with the constitutional elimination of the refundability of the Oklahoma Earned Income Tax Credit.”

From Dr. Tom Coburn:

“Since 2015, policymakers at the state Capitol have raised taxes and annual revenue on Oklahomans by $1.1 billion—even raising Oklahomans’ personal income taxes since 2016 by at least $185 million annually alone. Given how much in taxes have been raised on millions of Oklahomans who don’t have an army of well-paid lobbyists to represent them at the state Capitol, it’s unconscionable that Oklahoma would continue the kind of crony-capitalist policy that is a major part of state government’s over-spending addiction that got us into this problem in the first place,” said Dr. Tom Coburn, who served as a United States Senator for Oklahoma.

“I encourage Oklahoma State Senators to cut through the hyperbole and scare tactics presented by crony capitalists who want to continue to massively benefit at the expense of millions of Oklahoma taxpayers. A vote in favor of SB 888 is the exact kind of reform and oversight that lawmakers can support to keep their promise to voters to protect them from wasteful government spending. Wind production in Oklahoma is receiving more than $110 million a year in subsidies from state taxpayers. With some estimates showing state subsidies for one wind turbine exceed the starting salary of an Oklahoma teacher even after the legislatively enacted pay raise, this boondoggle must end.”

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While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2018

OKLAHOMA CITY – A landmark appellate court decision on tribal criminal jurisdiction could have far-reaching effects on the state’s petroleum industry.

The U.S. Supreme Court should reverse the 10th Circuit Court’s ruling in the Murphy v. Royal case, said the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association’s A.J. Ferate. But the case’s civil implications are much less clear, said two tribal nation representatives and a law professor.

Ferate, the OIPA’s vice president of government affairs, filed an amicus brief on Friday, urging the high court to review the case and strike down the appellate court’s ruling. He argued that the Murphy v. Royal case, applied to oil and gas law, would make the regulatory scheme much more complicated and costly.

Patrick Murphy was convicted in 2000 for killing George Jacobs, a former lover of Murphy’s girlfriend. Murphy appealed the state of Oklahoma’s death sentence and his attorneys argued that the land where the alleged crime occurred was part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s tribal land. Congress never disestablished the Muscogee (Creek)’s reservation and the state couldn’t pursue criminal charges for a Native American against another Native American on a reservation, his attorneys argued.

Read the complete story on journalrecord.com

More than an hour into discussion of Public Service Company of Oklahoma’s Wind Catcher project application today, Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett tried to summarize the question before him.

“Does this benefit PSO’s customers or does it harm PSO’s customers long term?” Hiett asked rhetorically in a Corporation Commission courtroom packed with Wind Catcher supporters and lawyers representing opponents. “Really the question is not so much, ‘What does it do for X community or what does it do for one part of the state, the question is, ‘What does it do for PSO’s customers?’”

To hear PSO attorney Jack Fite tell it, the 800 General Electric 2.5 megawatt turbines planned for the Oklahoma panhandle would be a critical “hedge” on the price of natural gas over the next 25 years for the company’s customers.

Read the complete story on nondoc.com

Swampy Status Quo Shakedown? 
Commissioner Murphy Raising Campaign Funds from Entities She Regulates

Tulsa, OK – Republican Lieutenant Governor candidate, entrepreneur, and small business owner Matt Pinnell commented today on opponent Dana Murphy’s long expected effort to raise campaign money from oil and gas and other entities she regulates in her role as Corporation Commissioner.

A campaign solicitation dated February 27, 2018 was sent to members of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association on the very first date she could solicit their funds.

17 O.S. §2A-48 stipulates that members of the Corporation Commission cannot accept campaign contributions from any “person who is subject to the regulations of the Corporation Commission, or has interests in any firm, corporation or business which is subject to regulation by the Corporation Commission,” until a period beginning 120 days prior to a primary election.

“This a perfect example of what President Trump meant when he said we needed to drain the swamp,” said Pinnell. “This is the status quo, politics as usual that I am fighting to end in Oklahoma City.”

In Murphy’s 2008 race against incumbent Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth, Murphy criticized Roth for raising campaign funds from individuals who had cases in front the Corporation Commission. Murphy called then Commissioner Roth, ” a lapdog for special interest groups,” and said that as “a career bureaucrat, he has relied on his powerful, special interest friends.” Now, Murphy is engaged in the same exact practice she campaigned against. In fact, Jim Roth, who is a registered lobbyist in front of the Corporation Commission, is hosting a campaign event for Commissioner Murphy today.

“This sends a chilling message to the oil and gas industry from a politician who regulates their industry,” continued Pinnell. “It’s simply not right that Commissioner Murphy can run for higher office while using her position on the Corporation Commission to raise money from those she regulates.”

“Commissioner Murphy correctly used to believe this practice was wrong, and said so when she ran in 2008. Now that she’s an elected official looking to climb the political ladder, she’s changed her tune. That’s the definition of hypocrisy and the status quo that Oklahoma voters soundly rejected at the ballot box in 2016,” concluded Pinnell.

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OKLAHOMA CITY – The Tax Foundation, a well-known nonprofit that studies fiscal policy across the United States, has issued a critical analysis of the combination of tax changes and tax increases advanced over the past two weeks by Step Up Oklahoma.

The foundation said the envisioned changes would make the state tax system “more complex and progressive, not simpler or more neutral.”

Erica York, analyst for the national organization, wrote the “new proposal in the state of Oklahoma would increase state income tax collections by $175.7 million.” She said, “The proposal would make several changes to the structure of Oklahoma’s personal income tax, resulting in some families seeing tax cuts and others seeing tax increases.”

York reviewed envisioned changes that include a cap on itemized income tax deductions, creation of additional tax brackets, reductions in standard deduction amounts, and disallowance of the personal exemption.

While “two lower intermediate brackets would reduce tax liability, they would also add more complexity and progressivity to the state’s income tax structure,” she wrote. “If adopted, this proposal would give Oklahoma eight income tax brackets as opposed to its current six brackets. A nonrefundable, per-return tax credit would also reduce tax liability for certain families, she wrote.

“The remaining components of the proposal would result in tax increases, as they subject more income to taxation. Capping itemized deductions would likely increase tax liability for higher income earners, as high-income earners tend to itemize rather than take the standard deduction.

“Reducing the standard deduction, then, would primarily affect lower income earners and likely lead to more households having income subject to the tax. Disallowing the personal exemption would likewise make more income subject to the tax.”

Her analysis came in a January 18 review of proposed state tax changes entitled “Oklahoma Considering Income Tax Changes to Address Budget Shortfall.”

Brent Gooden, a public relations specialist who is working on the Step Up drive, did not respond to several emails and telephone calls, including a message on his cell phone, asking for a response to the Tax Foundation critique.

State Rep. Kevin Wallace, R-Wellston, chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, did not respond to repeated attempts to obtain his reaction to the Tax Foundation’s assessment.

John Tidwell, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Oklahoma, told this reporter: “We have serious concerns over the proposed changes to our state’s income tax structure. Just last month the President signed the most sweeping tax reform plans in three decades, and now some at the state capitol want Oklahoma to be stuck on the sidelines and forced to pay higher rates.

“This could really slow the real economic growth that the rest of the country is set to see. What’s more, the changes to the state tax code will likely make our tax structure far more complex and not as simple as it could be.

“Now is not the time for us to consider raising taxes. We must get control of our state budget and work to get spending under control, not raise taxes just to grow government.”

On the organization’s website, the Tax Foundation is characterized as “the nation’s leading independent tax policy nonprofit. Since 1937, our principled research, insightful analysis, and engaged experts have improved lives through smarter tax policy.”

NOTE: A member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, Patrick B. McGuigan is founder of CapitolBeatOK, an online news service, and editor of The City Sentinel, an independent newspaper. A state-certified schoolteacher in 10 subject areas, he is the author of three books and editor of seven, and has written extensively on education and other public policy issues. Investigative journalist Stacy Martin contributed to this report, also posted at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs website. 
 

Strengthening oil prices and a stable national economy are helping to boost the still-recovering Oklahoma oil and natural gas industry, economists said this week.

Energy executives have spent much of the past two years cutting costs, improving efficiencies and helping their companies profit at prices previously believed to be too low to support shale production.

After dipping again in the first half of the year, oil prices have surged 29 percent over the past five months, gaining 73 cents Thursday to $56.69 a barrel.

“My hope is now that we’ve passed the $55 mark that we stay above that,” said Robert Dauffenbach, director of the Center for Economic and Management Research at the Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma.

“I’m hoping that will be our new base and that we can look for prices in the 60s. I’m very optimistic longer term.”

Read the complete story on NewsOK.com

When asked by a reporter if another round of oil and natural gas tax increases this year would hurt Oklahoma’s economy, Gov. Mary Fallin responded with, “I hope not.”

Shortly after, on Nov. 22, Fallin signed a third bill into law this year to increase the state’s gross production tax on oil and natural gas. This went largely unreported despite being the only tax increase approved during an eight-week special session.

Since January, the Legislature has doubled the effective GPT to 5.3 percent, according to the Oklahoma Tax Commission. Furthermore, around 97 percent of producing wells will be taxed at 7 percent by the end of this year.

It’s alarming that significant economic policy decisions this year have been based on hope and not facts. Here are a few facts Oklahomans should know:

• The oil and natural gas industry has been the brightest ray of hope for our economy this year. Between January and August, the industry created more jobs than any other industry in the state. These 5,000 new energy jobs mean more corporate and personal income taxes that the state collects, as well as increased local sales taxes from new economic activity.

• Our industry still has work to do to lead the state to a full energy recovery. Oklahoma’s drilling rig count recently hit a seven-month low, and our current rig count remains 40 percent lower than November 2014. Many factors stand in industry’s way, but the greatest hindrance is the unstable business environment created by action and rhetoric at the Capitol.

• Oklahoma’s current energy industry is best compared to Texas. The GPT rate in Texas is 4.6 percent for oil and 7.5 percent for natural gas, but the Texas comptroller publicly acknowledges that incentives for natural gas drive its rate down to 1.5 percent. This makes Oklahoma’s effective 5.3 percent rate today higher than Texas.

• Tax consumer groups continue to circulate a 2016 study by the state of Idaho that cites Texas’ full tax burden on production at 8.3 percent. The study achieved this number by marrying Texas’ GPT rate with the average property tax rate that the state also applies to production. The effective property tax rate in Texas is twice that of Oklahoma. To advocate for Texas’ method of taxing production would mean to advocate for a significant tax increase also to Oklahoma’s property owners.

• Instead of a property tax on production, Oklahoma levies corporate and personal income taxes on the oil and natural gas industry — unlike Texas. This method of taxation provides revenue for the state even when energy prices collapse. In 2015, when drilling activity hit a seven-decade low, corporate and personal income tax collections from the industry were more than $800 million, outpacing GPT revenue.

As the state continues to face a budget shortfall, no amount of tax increases on the oil and natural gas industry will fix this crisis. Instead, unpredictable policy threatens to drive away our current progress. One can only hope that Oklahoma’s elected officials are basing their policy decisions on facts and not hope.

Warmington is president of the Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association

Speaker McCall Comments on Gross Production Tax Increase

House Speaker Charles McCall said today he was pleased the House of Representatives voted to increase the gross production tax rate on over 6,600 oil and gas wells, providing much needed funding to help fill the budget hole and increase teacher pay.

“With today’s vote, the House of Representatives has increased the effective gross production tax rate by two percentage points in less than two years, providing over $400 million in new revenue for the state,” said Speaker McCall, R-Atoka. “This latest measure increases the gross production tax rate from 4 percent to 7 percent on over 6,600 additional wells, providing us with $50 million this fiscal year alone. That’s money we will use to fill the budget hole right away so we can act responsibly to prevent devastating cuts to our health care and mental health services.”

McCall said the measure would result in $100 million in new revenue for next fiscal year, which can be used to fund the first $1,000 of the House Republicans’ “1-2-3”, $6,000 phased-in teacher pay raise plan.

McCall encouraged the Senate to act quickly to approve this measure along with the bills appropriating money from carryover and Rainy Day funds to health agencies that passed the House on Monday.

Some Quick Facts on the Gross Production Tax

If House Bill 1085X is approved by the Senate and Governor, the effective GPT rate will have been increased by 2 full percentage points since 2016, yielding $412.5 million in new revenue.

o   November 2017: HB1085X moves all 4 percent legacy wells to 7 percent, yielding $50M in FY’18 and $100.5M in FY’19

o   May 2017: The Legislature ended all Gross Production Tax rebates, yielding $46.3 million

o   May 2017: The Legislature moved 1 percent legacy wells to 4 percent, yielding $95 million

o   2016: The Legislature placed a cap on the economically at-risk well rebate, yielding $120 million

o   In 2016, Oklahoma’s effective gross production tax rate was 3.2 percent. Increasing the rate again on roughly 6,642 legacy wells changes the effective gross production tax rate to 5.3 percent, according to the Oklahoma Tax Commission. (NOTE: An effective GPT rate of 5.3 percent is well above the regional average)

I recently walked the floor at the Oklahoma Oil & Gas Expo at the state fairgrounds. More than 150 exhibitors promoted their businesses to the 2,500 attendees from Oklahoma’s oil and natural gas industry. It was eye-opening.

At the Capitol, the energy industry is oftentimes only represented by the gross production tax, which is paid by oil and natural gas producers. It’s one of the few budget line items directly linked to oil and natural gas and it’s also one of the state’s most significant sources of income, trumped only by income tax, sales tax and motor vehicle tax collections.

But the businesses that support oil and natural gas producers — the vast majority of those represented at the expo — don’t pay gross production tax. Their employees do pay income taxes. They do pay sales tax on equipment used in their day-to-day business. And they do pay motor vehicle taxes on the fleet of cars and trucks they use throughout the oil field.

The economic benefit those companies bring to Oklahoma is great and reaches every county in the state.

Read the complete story on NewsOK.com

OKOGA: O&G Industry is Being Treated Worse Than “Sin Taxes,” Stalling State’s Growth Potential

OKLAHOMA CITY (Oct. 26, 2017) – The Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association’s (OKOGA) president, Chad Warmington, released the following press statement about current proposals at the state capitol to increase the state’s gross production tax (GPT) rate again after three consecutive years of GPT increases:

“Changing Oklahoma’s permanent gross production tax rate is short-term thinking with long term negative impacts for our state. Such action makes Oklahoma more dependent on a volatile source of tax revenue, places thousands of jobs at risk, and prevents Oklahoma from achieving its full economic recovery any time soon. The oil and natural gas industry’s drilling activity drives growth for the state’s corporate and personal income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes and more.

Without robust drilling, there is less money for mineral owners, education, roads and bridges, and other vital public services. The state has increased GPT for three consecutive years, with the most recent increase of $141 million taking effect less than four months ago. We are being treated worse than the ‘sin taxes’ that have a large majority of support from Oklahoma because of it reducing unhealthy behaviors. Another GPT increase is a loss for Oklahoma and a victory for activists who are eager to see Oklahoma’s potential for domestic energy dominance come to a grinding halt.”

• Over the past three years, the state has increased taxes on the oil and natural gas industry in the following ways:
  In 2017, the oil and natural gas industry will pay an additional $141 million in tax increases by ending all GPT rebates and by increasing the GPT rate by 300% on roughly 6,000 older wells.
• In 2016, the oil and natural gas industry paid an additional $120 million in tax increases when the state placed a cap on the economically at-risk well rebate.
• In 2015, the state increased taxes on horizontal drillers by 100 percent when it implemented the permanent two-tiered GPT rate for all wells of 2 percent for the first 36 months and 7 percent for the remaining life of the well, on average more than 30 years.
• In 2015, the state also eliminated more than half of the GPT rebates, six of the 11 rebates of which some had existed dating back to the early 1990s.

According to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, the state’s current effective GPT rate today is 4.4 percent. This places Oklahoma slightly above the regional average when comparing it to calculations published in the State Chamber of Oklahoma Research Foundation’s report that remains the only apples-to-apples comparison of GPT rates in energy producing states.

Background
The Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association, founded in 1919, is the oldest energy trade association in the United States. Nearly a century later, the association remains dedicated to the advancement and improvement of the oil and natural gas industry within the state of Oklahoma and throughout the nation. It is a non-profit association composed of oil and gas producers, operators, purchasers, pipelines, transporters, processors, refiners, marketers and service companies which represent a substantial sector of the oil and natural gas industry within Oklahoma. The activities of OKOGA include support for legislative and regulatory measures designed to promote both the well-being and best interests of the citizens of this state and a strong and vital petroleum industry within the State of Oklahoma and throughout the United States.

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PSO’s Proposed 28% Base Rate Hike Will Hurt Consumers and Hinder Economic Development
Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers Challenges PSO’s Unjustified Rate Hike to Protect Oklahoma Businesses and Industries

Tulsa – Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers (OIEC), an association of large energy users located in Oklahoma, today filed testimony with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in response to Public Service Company Of Oklahoma’s (PSO) request for an approximate $150 million rate hike, one of the largest rate increases ever applied for in state history.

According to Tom Schroedter, executive director and general counsel of OIEC, PSO’s rate hike, if approved, will increase rates for PSO customers by over $100 million more than is necessary and justified to provide electric service.

“If approved, the $150 million rate hike requested by PSO will cause rate shock for PSO’s customers and will hinder economic development and job growth in those areas of the state served by PSO,” Schroedter noted.

“Oklahoma needs to remain competitive with its electric rates to continue to attract new business and grow existing companies. PSO’s increase will deter Oklahoma businesses from making new investments as PSO’s rate hike will cause the transfer of capital from Oklahoma businesses and other ratepayers to PSO’s parent company’s shareholders.”

OIEC’s independent review of PSO’s testimony and economic analysis confirms that the company’s rate hike request, which closely follows a previous rate increase award in December of last year, is ill conceived and imprudent. To protect Oklahoma’s industrial customers from PSO’s largely unsubstantiated rate hike, OIEC filed the testimony of four expert witnesses who urged the Commission to adopt over $100 million of downward adjustments to PSO’s requested revenue requirement increase.

The adjustments recommended by OIEC experts include a $19 million adjustment resulting from OIEC’s recommended and reasonable 9.0% return on equity, a $33 million adjustment resulting from OIEC’s reasoned modifications to PSO’s proposed depreciation rates, and an approximate $65 million worth of investment and expense adjustments.

OIEC represents industrial and other large consumers of energy whose members employ tens of thousands of Oklahomans. The organization works for just and reasonable rates for OIEC member companies. OIEC has been active on behalf of industrial and other large consumers of energy for more than 20 years.

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About Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers

Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers is an unincorporated association of companies with facilities in Oklahoma that require significant energy usage. OIEC’s objective is to secure the lowest reasonable cost energy and the most efficient and reliable energy services for our members. Members need an advocate to ensure lowest reasonable utility rates, and OIEC is their voice. OIEC is actively involved in rate proceedings and related matters at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and the state legislature and is a proven leader in addressing energy policies relating to the electric and gas industries.