Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., which has about 65,000 customers in the Fort Smith area, asked the Arkansas Public Service Commission on Tuesday to approve a settlement in its case to change rates.
The settlement, reached last month, allows the Oklahoma City-based utility to raise residential rates by about 9 percent. That means a customer with a $100 monthly bill would have a bill of $109 a month if the commission agrees with the settlement.
The average Oklahoma Gas and Electric monthly bill is about $77 a month, said John Bethel, executive director of the commission's general staff. On the basis of that average, a residential bill would rise about $6 a month.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric has the lowest residential rates in the region, ranking 168 out of 168 utilities surveyed, according to a 2016 study by Edison Electric Institute, said the utility's attorney, Larry Chisenhall. The utility's commercial rates were 148 out of 162 companies, he further told the commission.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric also will give its customers the opportunity to choose how their bill will be calculated.
The basic residential schedule has a charge per kilowatt hour of electricity used, an energy charge and a customer charge. Another billing schedule has a customer charge, a demand charge based on the demand put on the system and a lesser charge per kilowatt hour of electricity used.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric's customers can choose what they believe will be the most beneficial way to determine their bill.
"At the end of a year, [the customer] will get a comparison of what their rates were under the new schedule and what the rates would have been under the previous plan," Bethel said. "If the bill would have been less under the previous schedule, you'll receive a credit for the difference between the two."
The utility is able to offer varying rate schedules because it has advanced meters that can measure a customer's electricity usage on 15-minute intervals instead of a single monthly reading, Bethel said.
"[Oklahoma Gas and Electric] has different consumption information that is available than the standard meter that has been in place for many customers," Bethel said.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric also agreed to charge a reconnect fee of $1.75 for customers who have their power shut off. Oklahoma Gas and Electric's advanced meters make a reconnection less expensive, Bethel said.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric filed the rate case in August. It originally sought an increase of $16.5 million from its rates in 2011, Chisenhall said. The proposal was challenged, and the settlement among the parties in the case -- Oklahoma Gas and Electric, the Arkansas River Valley Energy Consumers, Wal-Mart Stores of Arkansas, the state's attorney general and the commission's general staff -- drops the increase to $7.1 million, Chisenhall said.
It is likely that the commission will make a decision in the case by late May, Bethel said. In the rate case, Oklahoma Gas and Electric asked the commission to issue an order in time for the utility to begin new rates on June 1, Bethel said.
Business on 05/03/2017