News from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Customers of Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. will see a credit of nearly $11 million per year starting this month as the result of an order approved Thursday, March 2, by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

The 1996 rate reduction settlement authorized the utility to collect an acquisition premium for the purchase of Enogex over three years, beginning in March 1997. The three year period having expired, the credit will be used to back out this charge until new tariffs are approved in the next OG&E full rate case.

Commission Chairman Bob Anthony said the credit will bring nearly a $1 million per month benefit to the utility’s retail customers.

"Today’s action effectively removes a charge from customer bills," Anthony explained. "We thank OG&E for its cooperation in getting this savings to ratepayers on schedule."

Commissioner Denise Bode said "I am especially pleased anytime we can return money to Oklahoma ratepayers. I believe that as we move forward with deregulation of the electric industry in Oklahoma, we must work to ensure that the ratepayers are better off."

The credit will be applied to customer bills as .0586 cents per kilowatt hour of electrical usage. This is the amount incorporated in OG&E’s 1996 rate case to cover the acquisition premium on the utility’s purchase of Enogex, the intrastate pipeline and natural gas processing plants used to deliver fuel to OG&E’s gas-fired electrical generating facilities.

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