News from the Oklahoma Corporation
Commission
Phone: (405)
521-4180, FAX: (405) 522-1623, www.occ.state.ok.us
November 20,
2001
COMMISSION SAYS “NO MORE” TO ONG
(Oklahoma
City) The Oklahoma Corporation Commission today approved the final order
stopping Oklahoma Natural Gas from further charging customers for its gas costs
of last winter.
Earlier this
year, the Commission slowed ONG's recovery of its gas costs from last winter.
Rather than the full amount being collected, the Commission ordered the company
to only "pass through" a portion of the gas cost incurred by
ONG last winter, pending further review of the matter. Over the past months,
this “pass-through” took the form of a surcharge on a ratepayer’s bill of about
75 cents per dekatherm.
Today’s
final order is a result of the Commission’s review of the way ONG handled its
purchase of gas for last winter. The
order states that the company will no longer
be allowed
to charge for that portion of its gas costs for which it has yet to bill
customers. The order would result in the elimination of the 75 cents per
dekatherm charge starting on December 1st. The total amount covered
by the order is approximately 34 point 6 million dollars.
Commission
Chairman Denise Bode calls the order a step “not taken lightly.”
“The fact
remains that as a result of the company’s failure to prepare for what were
expected to be high gas prices for the winter of 2000, consumers face a continued
charge on their bill as ONG seeks to be reimbursed for its gas costs of the
past winter. It is wrong for the consumer to pay for ONG’s failure to take
action to protect consumers against tight supplies and rising prices.
“Today’s
order should result in an average savings of 10 to 12 dollars a month for the
average residential consumer through this winter,” said Bode.
Commission
Vice-Chair Bob Anthony says the order simply corrects a situation in which
consumers were paying for ONG’s
mismanagement in preparing for the predicted high gas costs that became
reality last winter.
(continued)
(57 case,
page 2)
“Over $30
million of ONG’s gas costs last winter were excessive and imprudent. In
fairness to consumers, today’s order disallows pass through of these charges to
the consumer.”
Commissioner
Ed Apple was not present at the meeting and did not vote on the matter today,
but has issued a dissenting opinion.
Oklahoma
Natural Gas has announced it intends to appeal the Commission’s order to the
Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Ed Apple Commissioner
Application of Ernest G. Johnson, )
Director of the Public Utility Division ) Cause No. PUD 200100057
Oklahoma Corporation Commission to )
Review those Aspects of Oklahoma )
Adjustment Clause Related to Least )
Cost Procurement Practices and )
Related Affiliate Transactions. )
Two wrongs do not make a right.
Woeful is the elected official who can only apply a static “letter of the law” concept to a multi-dimensional situation.
Edmund Burke characterized the duty of an elected official this way:
“One who owes you not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”
Blind adherence to words displays either an unwillingness to understand the facts or a bias so set that logic and reason are ignored.
In either case, “fair, just and reasonable” are merely crutches for the pre-determined outcome. Judgment in this cause has been sacrificed.