OG&E has reached a settlement agreement on its application for approval of the OU Spirit wind farm that is pending before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC). OU Spirit, a 10 MW facility under construction near Woodward, Okla., is expected to be complete in December.
The agreement asks for an OCC order establishing a temporary addition, or rider, to OG&E customers' monthly electric bills that will enable the utility to begin recovering construct costs as each of the wind farm's 44 new turbines comes online.
The agreement calls for OG&E to pass through to Oklahoma retail customers 100% of the renewable energy certificate (REC) revenues generated by the sale of the RECs to the university. The net impact on the average residential customer's 2010 electric bill should be approximately $0.90 more per month, decreasing to $0.80 per month in 2011.
When completed, the facility is expected to cost approximately $270 million. OU Spirit will be added to OG&E's regulated rate base as part of a general rate case in 2011, which would end the temporary rider. An OCC hearing on the OU Spirit application is scheduled to go before an administrative law judge on Oct. 28.
SOURCE: OG&E Energy Corp.
