The Public Service Company of Oklahoma is proposing a price increase to pay for improvements to the electrical grid.
The average resident will see an increase of about $14 a month. PSO says it needs $173 million more revenue annually to update the power grid. It would use the money to expand its renewable energy fleet and bolster the grid so power outages are less frequent, shorter and smaller. PSO serves about 562,000 customers, the vast majority of whom live in the Tulsa area.
In a press release, PSO says it acknowledges the extra financial strain on families, but the extra costs will help protect customers long-term from the expensive fallout of disaster events.
This proposal comes on top of another one earlier this month, which asks for an increase of about $3.50 a month to cover purchasing renewable energy facilities. The state’s Corporation Commission will have to weigh in on the proposals before they can go forward.
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