Another PSO Rate Hike? Why Oklahoma Bills Keep Climbing

PSO is at it again, asking for another rate hike on Oklahoma customers. This time, they want to add about $10 a month to every residential electric bill, spread over the next four years.

The reason? They say it’s to cover the cost of adding new generation capacity.

The plan includes building two new natural gas units in Oologah, converting the last coal unit at that plant to gas, buying existing wind farms in western Oklahoma, and installing battery storage facilities across the state.

They say it’s all part of a “balanced mix” for future demand.

It sounds good on paper, but there’s a catch. PSO expects demand to surpass capacity by 2027, even after these upgrades. The company says new economic development projects, including industrial sites and data centers, are driving demand faster than they can add supply. So, while they expand their footprint, it’s everyday Oklahomans who are expected to help pay for it.

This is coming from a Fortune 500 company with millions in annual revenue and a parent corporation that earned nearly $20 billion last year. So it begs the question... Why must the public always end up covering corporate profits?

Regardless of politics, that's a fair question most people are asking.

Why this new rate hike from PSO?

They claim it’s about maintaining reliability for future growth, but it’s hard not to notice a pattern. Year over year, Oklahomans use less electricity, yet the monthly bill keeps climbing.

I asked ChatGPT to explain why that is. Here’s what it came up with.

While electric companies operate as monopolies, they are regulated by utility commissions. In Oklahoma, that’s the Corporation Commission.

When the OCC decides a project benefits the public, it allows these private companies to raise rates to pay for it. The thinking goes that if it helps everyone, everyone should chip in.

In effect, this would be kind of like if Walmart wanted new freezers, the government would pass a special tax so that only people who ate food had to pay for it.

Return on investment.

It all ties back to the stock market, just under a different name. For utilities, it’s called Return on Equity, or ROE. Investors expect growth, and companies like PSO need to keep that number climbing.

Since electricity is considered essential, the OCC rarely says no. The lights won’t go out, but the bills will keep going up.

Instead, they should just call it what it secretly is...

It’s a bailout.

Even AI recognizes it:

Rate hikes to fund corporate expansion amount to a transfer of wealth from the public to private investors.

Consumers take on all the risk, paying higher rates month after month, while shareholders enjoy the return.

Even worse, once the upgrades are done and paid for, the bill never goes back down. It just stays there until the next “investment.”

It makes you wonder why the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is always so quick to approve these hikes. We have this same conversation every few months, and the answer never changes.

Do Oklahoma’s Corporation Commission members receive kickbacks?

It’s a fair question. OCC is a politically elected commission, and politicians tend to be rewarded for their loyalty.

The official answer is no, since bribes are illegal. But many regulators across the country eventually end up on advisory boards for the very companies they once oversaw.

You know what's a fun Google? Look up what your past OCC commissioners are doing for a living these days... I'll wait.

Oklahoma knows the Good Ol’ Boy Network well.

It's hard to tell if that is what’s happening here. And I certainly wouldn't say it out loud or publish it to the internet without concrete proof for fear of lawsuits and liability...

What I am willing to say is, as an electric-bill-paying Oklahoman, you certainly get the impression that these commissioners aren’t the type to have to choose between paying a power bill or buying groceries in any particular month.

Your current OCC commissioners:

Kim David
Brian Bingman
Todd Hiett

These are the folks who decide that regular Oklahomans have to pick up the tab for billion-dollar corporations.

They’re probably not bad people, just far removed from the people they’re supposed to represent.