By: Jack Money and Dale Denwalt – The Oklahoman via Yahoo News – Frustrated customers potentially on the hook for billions of dollars their utility providers spent during last year’s February winter storm are finally getting some answers to a question that’s been asked for nearly a year — who exactly charged these utilities billions of dollars that Oklahomans now have to pay back?
The Public Utility Division of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission on Thursday released data typically shielded from public view that was provided by publicly regulated utilities seeking to recover their costs incurred during the storm.
The information identifies the vendors the utilities did business with between Feb. 7 and Feb. 21 to get fuel, surplus electricity and related services during the storm.
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The entity that received the most cash from utilities was the Southwest Power Pool, which sold $510 million worth of power and transmission services to Public Service Co. of Oklahoma and Empire District Electric Co. based in Joplin, Missouri.
Next on the list was NextEra Energy, whose biggest Oklahoma customer during the storm was Oklahoma Natural Gas. According to the data, ONG paid NextEra more than $411 million. It received another $18.75 million from PSO for natural gas.
Other providers who sold over $100 million worth of products and services during the storm were Tenaska, Southwest Energy, Koch Energy Services, Macquarie Cook Energy, Sequent Energy, Spire Marketing, Chevron and Mercuria Energy America.
Here is a breakdown of major utilities’ purchases.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric
The three businesses that were paid most by Oklahoma Gas and Electric were:
Tenaska Marketing Ventures — $125,428,028
Koch Energy Services LLC — $112,608,142
Mercuria — $69,957,142
OG&E also paid the pipeline company Enable Midstream $1,673,610, which it co-owned at the time, for transportation services.
Overall, OG&E paid $744,865,603 during the storm.
Public Service Co. of Oklahoma
Public Service Co. of Oklahoma’s three largest storm-related cost were:
Southwest Power Pool — $416,686,804 for wholesale electricity.
Tenaska Marketing Ventures — $72,393,312
Enable Oklahoma Intrastate Transmission — $14,288,303
PSO paid a total of $693,176,265 to its vendors during the storm.
Oklahoma Natural Gas
The three largest fuel suppliers Oklahoma Natural Gas bought from during the storm were:
NextEra — $411,075,931
SW Energy — $297,161,143
Macquarie — $118,720,193
In all, ONG was the only utility to pay out over a billion dollars to its vendors. Grand total: $1,284,101,406.
Summit Utilities Oklahoma Inc.
The three largest fuel suppliers Summit (formerly CenterPoint Energy) bought from during the storm were:
SES Energy Services — $38,880,323.27
Continental Resources — $18,873,500
Southwest Energy — $12,413,740.72
Overall, Summit paid $78,860,527.
Total payments by every utility
The Empire District of Liberty Utilities, Arkansas Oklahoma Gas, the Fort Cobb Fuel Authority, Panhandle Natural Gas and Canadian Valley Electric Cooperative also fulfilled the agency’s data request.
This is the total paid by each utility, listed in alphabetical order.
- Arkansas Oklahoma Gas $95,504,709.36
- Canadian Valley Electric Cooperative $16,283,711.06
- Empire District Electric Co. $238,310,777.52
- Fort Cobb Fuel Authority $426,356.15
- OG&E $744,865,603.00
- Oklahoma Natural Gas $1,284,101,406.00
- Panhandle Natural Gas $59,289.69
- PSO $693,176,265.00
- SUO-CenterPoint $78,860,527.74
Total payments received by business
These firms, and the Southwest Power Pool grid, all received payment from utilities during the February 2021 storm. Here is what each was paid cumulatively, listed from greatest amount to least.
- Southwest Power Pool $510,112,130.07
- NextEra Energy Marketing $429,830,427.00
- Tenaska $351,626,616.21
- Southwest Energy $410,166,393.72
- Koch Energy Services LLC $177,870,603.11
- Macquarie Cook Energy LLC $153,722,734.15
- Sequent Energy $150,576,704.00
- Spire Marketing $124,042,885.03
- Chevron $108,736,777.00
- Mercuria Energy America LLC $104,264,023.00
- ETC Marketing Inc $93,878,383.00
- Exelon Generation Company LLC $73,761,323.00
- Conexus Energy LLC $52,327,067.00
- Blue Mountain Midstream LLC $49,195,155.00
- Eco-Energy Natural Gas LLC $43,992,898.00
- Enable Energy Resources LLC $40,626,083.00
- SES $38,880,323.27
- Vitol $32,919,651.00
- Clearwater Enterprises LLC $32,737,108.85
- Twin Eagle Resource Mgmt $27,161,361.00
- ConocoPhilips Co. $24,011,302.00
- Continental Resources $22,707,875.00
- Westar Energy Inc $19,153,788.00
- Cimarex Energy Co. $16,850,602.00
- Western Farmers Electric Cooperative $16,283,711.06
- BP Energy Company $13,897,943.54
- ONEOK $10,757,129.00
- OFS $7,200,000.00
- Devon Gas Services LP $6,300,555.00
- Spotlight Energy $2,241,382.29
- Stephens Production $1,925,223.30
- Calpine Oneta Power LLC $1,440,061.00
- Southern Star $335,912.76
- MISO $266,961.03
- CPV Keenan Renweable Energy $214,785.00
- Blackwell Wind LLC $187,068.00
- Taloga Wind LLC $187,056.00
- Marabou $185,419.00
- Ultimate CNG $140,972.00
- Castleton Commodities $133,380.00
- Targa Gas Mkt $126,639.80
- Oklahoma Gas Transportation $124,039.00
- Mieco $104,647.35
- MidCoast Marketing (uslp) $69,300.00
- Element Markets $51,244.48
- Crown Midstream $35,824.89
- Merit $33,497.10
- Webb $32,987.38
- Oklahoma Natural Gas $31,201.00
- Black Hills Energy $29,818.58
- Pro Energy Solutions $26,698.15
- Petrol Energy $15,702.98
- Camterra $13,683.93
- Hanna Oil & Gas $10,701.18
- Associated Electric $9,670.66
- City Utilities of Springfield $5,500.00
- Foundation $4,473.96
- Titan $4,133.48
- Stigler $3,696.14
- United Energy Trading LLC $1,427.00
- Symmerty/CenterPoint $1,342.57
- Jaco $1,183.96
- Williford $854.45
- Wentworth $346.34
- CenterPoint $258.75
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