PSO Is Doing Damage Control Over Your Electric Bill

You've seen your electric bill, and if the recent spike in prices shocked you, PSO is trying to do some damage control.

They know you noticed it, and they just sent out an email from President and CEO Leigh Anne Strahler explaining the recent changes to electric bills, PSO's pending request to raise rates and why the company says it needs to spend more money on the electric system.

It's a pretty carefully worded explanation.

PSO says it understands that rising electric bills are hitting household budgets and doesn't take changes to customer bills lightly.

And their explanation? Everything costs more.

PSO says equipment, materials, and services have gotten more expensive. The company is also spending money replacing aging equipment, strengthening the grid, and preparing for extreme weather.

All of that costs money, so PSO wants the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to let them collect that money from customers.

There's an important distinction here, though. PSO is asking for a rate increase. They don't get to just decide that your electric bill is going up. The OCC has to approve the request... But they don't make it a habit of saying "no."

The Original PSO Rate Request

The request PSO originally made was a pretty big one. The company initially sought enough additional revenue to increase the average residential customer's bill by more than $25 a month, and it got a lot of attention.

Since then, PSO and other parties, including the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office, have reached a proposed settlement that would cut that increase dramatically. Under the proposed settlement, the average residential customer would see an increase of about $2.45 per month.

The Corporation Commission still has to make its final decision.

They're also bringing up something we've been hearing a lot about in Oklahoma.

Growth.

More people are moving here. More houses are being built. Businesses are using more electricity, and some of those businesses are apparently using an absolutely enormous amount of electricity.

You already know... Data centers.

Who Is Paying For All That New Infrastructure?

PSO says new and larger customers are required to pay the costs of any new infrastructure needed to serve them. That's an important thing for residential customers to hear, considering how much discussion there's been about who is going to pay for the massive amount of infrastructure needed to handle Oklahoma's growing electricity demand.

Of course, that's not the same thing as saying their growth won't have an effect on the overall system or future costs. But PSO clearly wants customers to know that the company isn't simply building infrastructure for giant new customers and handing the entire bill to homeowners.

The rest of the email is pretty much what you'd expect from a utility company trying to explain a rate request.

PSO says those investments are necessary. Fair enough. But they're also the reason this rate case matters to everyone who gets a PSO bill.

For now, that's where things stand.

PSO wants customers to understand why it's asking for more money, and this email is clearly part of that effort.

Whether the explanation makes you feel any better when you look at your next electric bill is probably another question.