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AARP AARP States Oklahoma Advocacy

Help Stop OG&E and PSO Rate Hikes Which Could Cost You Hundreds of Dollars a Year

By: Mark Nichols, Associate State Director Advocacy

 

Whether you’re a customer of Oklahoma Gas and Electric or the Public Service Company of Oklahoma, you could see significant increases in your electric bills by the end of this year.

Did you know electric utilities cannot just raise your rates any time they want?  They have to go through the Corporation Commission, an elected group of three officials, who have to study and approve rate increase requests.  This means that YOU, as a consumer of electricity and a voter, have a say in how you want your elected officials to proceed on your behalf.

Today, PSO is nearing the end of a rate case where they are requesting an additional $137 million from you, the customer.  That’s a 14% increase in the PSO customer’s average monthly bill!   The Corporation Commission, the elected body that decides if utilities can raise your rates, is expected to rule on this case in the next month or two.   If you’re a PSO customer and concerned about these rising rates, take our survey HERE to see what you can do about it.

OG&E is also seeking an additional $92.5 million from customers. One part of the proposed request  could tack on an additional $7.22 per month to OG&E customer’s bills!  Another part of the request involves doubling the current ‘customer charge’. This charge is the amount of money owed OG&E, just for being a customer, even if you use no electricity. Doubling this charge from $13 to $27 would mean that a customer would owe OG&E $327 a year before they even turn on a light! The Commission is expected to rule on this case by the end of the year.  Take the survey HERE to learn more.

And you may not know this, but both of these companies are already charging you for some of these increases.  Under current law, they can set interim rates which allow them to charge you more money until the Commission rules on their case, at which point, they will refund it back to you.  Bet you didn’t know you were giving utility companies a free loan.

So what can you do about it?  Take a short survey about what rate increases mean to you and we’ll show you several things we can do together to keep rates down.  You don’t have to be a member of AARP, you don’t even have to be over 50; you just have to want lower monthly utility bills.

To learn more about the proposed rate hiked and how you can get involved, please CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY or contact Mark Nichols at mailto:mnichols@aarp.org or call 405-715-4470.

 























 

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