Update on Electric Prices

We would like our electric customers to know that high wholesale power prices are impacting their bills and may continue to do so in the near future.

These high costs are being felt nationwide and are a combination of a series of factors, most notably high natural gas prices and historic demand.

For its short-term outlook, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that it expects the average peak-hour wholesale prices in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) in June through August to nearly double what they were a year earlier. The SPP market is where your utility operates. Other areas of the country, such as New England, are predicted to increase by as much as 167%.

Nationally, residential rates are expected to increase by 3.9% during June through August of 2022.

On July 5, the SPP announced that it had reached an all-time peak load and, multiple times during the last month, has sent out alerts about grid conditions, due to unusually high demand.

Recently, our wholesale power supplier, the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority, notified us of expectations regarding natural gas prices, which were up 291% in May from the previous year. Reasons cited for the high cost of natural gas include production lapses, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and demand both domestically and internationally. A larger portion of gas produced here in the U.S. is being shipped to Europe and Asia in the form of Liquified Natural Gas. This is keeping prices high, as it limits the supply available here.