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Rate Matters and Regulation | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2020
Regulated Operations [Abstract] |
Rate Matters and Regulation | Rate Matters and Regulation Regulation and Rates OG&E's retail electric tariffs are regulated by the OCC in Oklahoma and by the APSC in Arkansas. The issuance of certain securities by OG&E is also regulated by the OCC and the APSC. OG&E's transmission activities, short-term borrowing authorization and accounting practices are subject to the jurisdiction of the FERC. The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy has jurisdiction over some of OG&E's facilities and operations. In 2020, 86 percent of OG&E's electric revenue was subject to the jurisdiction of the OCC, eight percent to the APSC and six percent to the FERC. The OCC and the APSC require that, among other things, (i) OGE Energy permits the OCC and the APSC access to the books and records of OGE Energy and its affiliates relating to transactions with OG&E; (ii) OGE Energy employ accounting and other procedures and controls to protect against subsidization of non-utility activities by OG&E's customers; and (iii) OGE Energy refrain from pledging OG&E assets or income for affiliate transactions. In addition, the FERC has access to the books and records of OGE Energy and its affiliates as the FERC deems relevant to costs incurred by OG&E or necessary or appropriate for the protection of utility customers with respect to the FERC jurisdictional rates. Completed Regulatory Matters APSC Proceedings Arkansas 2019 Formula Rate Plan Filing OG&E filed its second evaluation report under its Formula Rate Plan in October 2019. On February 28, 2020, the APSC approved a settlement agreement among OG&E, the General Staff of the APSC and the Office of the Arkansas Attorney General providing for a $5.2 million revenue increase, with rates effective April 1, 2020. The settling parties agreed that the Series I grid modernization projects are prudent in both action and cost and that the Series II grid modernization projects are prudent in action only and the determination of prudence of costs will be reserved until the actual historical costs are reviewed. The settling parties also agreed that OG&E will no longer use projections for the remaining initial term or extension of its current Formula Rate Plan and that all costs will be included for recovery for the first time in the historical year. Order Regarding COVID-19 On April 10, 2020, the APSC issued Order No. 1 related to COVID-19 and the provision of safe, adequate and reliable utility service at just and reasonable rates. Among other things, the APSC ordered the suspension of customer disconnects for non-payment during the pendency of the Arkansas Governor's emergency declaration or until the directive is rescinded by the APSC, neither of which have occurred yet, although the APSC has requested comments as to whether the moratorium should be lifted. The order encourages companies to provide reasonable payment arrangements once the suspension is lifted. The APSC also authorized utilities to establish regulatory assets to record costs resulting from the suspension of disconnections. These regulatory assets will be reviewed in future proceedings for reasonableness. The APSC ordered the General Staff of the APSC to consult with utilities to create a quarterly report to be used to report the costs incurred and saved that have been booked to the regulatory asset. OG&E is monitoring the regulatory activity regarding COVID-19 at the APSC and will consider the request for additional regulatory action by the APSC as needed. On May 1, 2020, OG&E filed a Request for Additional Actions and Tariff Deviation seeking relief from the Arkansas General Service Rules and OG&E's Terms and Conditions under the tariff, in order to allow for: more flexible deferred payment agreements for all customer classes, suspension of increased deposits due to non-payment and suspension of the removal of customers from certain billing and extended due date plans for late payments. In addition, OG&E requested that incremental expenses, such as additional personal protective equipment, increased sanitation efforts at facilities, implementing health-screening processes and securing temporary facilities for potential sequestration of critical operation personnel, be tracked in a regulatory asset. OG&E noted that all possible cost categories are not known currently and reserved the right to file subsequent requests as needed. On May 27, 2020, the APSC issued an order approving OG&E's request to deviate from the specified terms in the Arkansas General Service Rules and OG&E's Terms and Conditions to allow deferred payment arrangements to be offered to all customer classes and have more flexible payment arrangements. OG&E is authorized to record the expenses requested in its regulatory asset to defer and seek future recovery. The APSC found that because each utility has different cost recovery mechanisms and the magnitude of the utilities' expenses are unknown at this time, the APSC finds that it is premature to decide the exact recovery mechanism for any utility for COVID-19 related costs. Environmental Compliance Plan Rider In May 2019, OG&E filed an environmental compliance plan rider in Arkansas to recover its investment for the environmentally mandated costs associated with the Sooner Dry Scrubbers project and the conversion of Muskogee Units 4 and 5 to natural gas. The filing initiated an interim surcharge, subject to refund, that began with the first billing cycle of June 2019. OG&E had been reserving the amounts collected through the interim surcharge, pending APSC approval of OG&E's filing. A hearing on the merits was held in December 2019. Parties submitted additional briefs to the APSC in March 2020, which were requested due to certain intervenors questioning whether a company can utilize an environmental compliance plan rider while also being regulated under a formula rate plan. The APSC Staff concurred with OG&E that the rider may run concurrently with a formula rate plan, and the Arkansas Attorney General and other intervenors were in opposition. On July 31, 2020, OG&E's request to recover its investment for these environmentally mandated costs through the interim surcharge was not approved, as the APSC indicated OG&E could otherwise recover this investment, such as through the Formula Rate Plan Rider. As of December 31, 2020, OG&E has returned $5.3 million to customers that had been reserved for refund and has included those costs for recovery in its 2020 Formula Rate Plan filing. Arkansas Solar On July 29, 2020, OG&E submitted its application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to construct and operate a five MW solar generation facility near Branch, Arkansas. On September 30, 2020, the parties reached a unanimous settlement agreement relating to the filing, and on November 6, 2020, the APSC issued a final order approving the settlement agreement. The terms of the settlement are as follows: (i) parties agree that OG&E has complied with Arkansas law and rules of practice and procedure and recommend granting a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the construction, ownership and operation of the project and associated tariffs; (ii) OG&E agrees that it would not seek cost recovery until its next general rate review or Formula Rate Plan filing; (iii) OG&E agrees to keep detailed records of final cost, for review at such time that cost recovery is sought, including all cost variance estimates, whereby a determination of prudency of cost may be made; and (iv) OG&E agrees to reserve 50 percent of the total expected energy produced for residential customers for the first 90 days of the program's initial subscription period. Net Metering Order On June 1, 2020, the APSC revised its net-metering rules. The revised rules retained 1:1 full credit for net excess generation of residential customers and commercial customers up to 1 MW without demand charges. For larger commercial customers, 1 MW to 20 MW, the APSC found that some cost shifting to non-net-metering customers may occur. While the rules retain 1:1 full credit for net excess generation, they allow for a grid charge. The grid charge is initially set at zero; however, a utility may request approval to revise the grid charge based on evidence that an unreasonable cost shift to non-net-metering customers is occurring. OG&E does not currently have a significant number of net-metering customers in Arkansas. OG&E amended its existing net-metering tariffs considering the new rules. The APSC approved OG&E's revised tariffs on February 5, 2021. OCC Proceedings OCC Public Utility Division Motion Regarding COVID-19 On April 28, 2020, the Director of the Public Utility Division filed an application requesting an order from the OCC authorizing action in response to COVID-19. The application requested that the OCC authorize the State's utilities to record as a regulatory asset increased bad debt expenses, costs associated with expanded payment plans, waived fees and incremental expenses that are directly related to the suspension of or delay in disconnection of service beginning March 15, 2020, which coincides with the issuance of the Oklahoma Governor's emergency declaration. The application also requested that the OCC allow utilities to defer additional expenses associated with ensuring the continuity of utility service, such as additional personal protective equipment, increased sanitation efforts at facilities, implementing heath-screening processes and securing temporary facilities for potential sequestration of critical operation personnel. The application asked the OCC to consider in future proceedings whether each utility's request for recovery of these regulatory assets is reasonable and necessary and to consider issues such as the incremental bad debt experienced over normal periods, the appropriate period of recovery for any approved amount of regulatory asset, any amount of carrying costs and other related matters. On May 7, 2020, the OCC ordered that each utility is authorized to record as a regulatory asset any increased bad debt expense, cost associated with expanded payment plans, waived fees and incremental expenses that are directly related to the suspension of or delay in disconnection of service beginning March 15, 2020 until September 2020, unless otherwise ordered by the OCC. The OCC will consider in future proceedings whether each utility's request for recovery of these regulatory assets is reasonable and necessary. The OCC will also consider issues such as the incremental bad debt experienced over normal periods, appropriate period of recovery for any approved amount of regulatory assets, any amounts of carrying costs thereon and other related matters. The OCC also authorized utilities to defer expenses associated with ensuring continuity of service and protecting utility personnel, customers and the general public. 2019 Oklahoma Fuel Prudency On June 16, 2020, the Public Utility Division Staff filed their application initiating the review of the 2019 fuel adjustment clause and prudence review. On December 30, 2020, the OCC issued a final order finding OG&E's 2019 fuel costs and related practices prudent. Oklahoma Grid Enhancement Plan On February 24, 2020, OG&E filed an application with the OCC for approval of a mechanism that allows for interim recovery of the costs associated with its grid enhancement plan. The plan includes approximately $800.0 million of strategic, data-driven investments, over five years, covering grid resiliency, grid automation, communication systems and technology platforms and applications. On May 19, 2020, the OCC temporarily suspended the procedural schedule in light of various conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty surrounding the method and date in which the hearing on the merits may occur. On July 9, 2020, a prehearing conference was held before the Administrative Law Judge to establish a procedural schedule and lift the stay ordered on May 19, 2020. On July 23, 2020, the OCC issued an order approving the amended procedural schedule and thereby lifting the stay. On October 5, 2020, OG&E filed a Joint Stipulation and Settlement Agreement that included the following key terms: (i) cost recovery through a rider mechanism will be limited to projects placed in service in 2020 and 2021, capped at a revenue requirement of $7.0 million annually and only include communication, automation and technology systems projects; (ii) no operation and maintenance expense will be included in the rider mechanism; (iii) the rider mechanism will terminate by the issuance of a final order in OG&E's next general rate review or October 31, 2022, whichever occurs first; (iv) the rider mechanism rate of return will be capped at OG&E's current cost of capital; and (v) all cost recovery is subject to true-up and refund in OG&E's next general rate review. On November 5, 2020, the OCC issued a final order approving the Joint Stipulation and Settlement Agreement. In compliance with the final order, OG&E submitted a final list of projects for inclusion in the rider mechanism on December 5, 2020 and a revised rider mechanism for initial recovery of costs on December 15, 2020. The rider mechanism became effective on February 1, 2021. Any capital investment falling outside the criteria of the rider mechanism will be included in OG&E's next general rate review for recovery. Pending Regulatory Matters Various proceedings pending before state or federal regulatory agencies are described below. Unless stated otherwise, the Registrants cannot predict when the regulatory agency will act or what action the regulatory agency will take. The Registrants' financial results are dependent in part on timely and adequate decisions by the regulatory agencies that set OG&E's rates. FERC Proceedings Order for Sponsored Transmission Upgrades within SPP Under the SPP Open Access Transmission Tariff, costs of participant-funded, or "sponsored," transmission upgrades may be recovered from other SPP customers whose transmission service depends on capacity enabled by the upgrade. The SPP Open Access Transmission Tariff required the SPP to charge for these upgrades beginning in 2008, but the SPP had not been charging its customers for these upgrades due to information system limitations. However, the SPP had informed participants in the market that these charges would be forthcoming. In July 2016, the FERC granted the SPP's request to recover the charges not billed since 2008. The SPP subsequently billed OG&E for these charges and credited OG&E related to transmission upgrades that OG&E had sponsored, which resulted in OG&E being a net receiver of sponsored upgrade credits. The majority of these net credits were refunded to customers through OG&E's various rate riders that include SPP activity with the remaining amounts retained by OG&E. Several companies that were net payers of Z2 charges sought rehearing of the FERC's July 2016 order; however, in November 2017, the FERC denied the rehearing requests. In January 2018, one of the impacted companies appealed the FERC's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In July 2018, that court granted a motion requested by the FERC that the case be remanded back to the FERC for further examination and proceedings. In February 2019, the FERC reversed its July 2016 order and November 2017 rehearing denial, ruled that the SPP violated its tariff to charge for the 2008 - 2015 period in 2016, held that the SPP tariff provision that prohibited those charges could not be waived and ordered the SPP to develop a plan to refund the payments but not to implement the refunds until further ordered to do so. In response, in April 2019, OG&E filed a request for rehearing with the FERC, and in May 2019, OG&E filed a FERC 206 complaint against the SPP, alleging that the SPP's forced unwinding of the revenue credit payments to OG&E would violate the provisions of the Sponsored Upgrade Agreement and of the applicable tariff. OG&E's filing requested that the FERC rule that the SPP is not entitled to seek refunds or in any other way seek to unwind the revenue credit payments it had paid to OG&E pursuant to the Sponsored Upgrade Agreement. The SPP's response to OG&E's filing agreed that OG&E should be entitled to keep its Z2 payments and argued that the SPP should not be held responsible for those payments if refunds are ordered. Further, the SPP has requested the FERC to negotiate a global settlement with all impacted parties, including other project sponsors who, like OG&E, have also filed complaints at FERC contending that the payments they have received cannot properly be unwound. On February 20, 2020, the FERC denied OG&E's request for rehearing of its February 2019 order, denying the waiver and ruling that the SPP must seek refunds from project sponsors for Z2 payments for the 2008 through 2015 period and pay them back to transmission owners. The FERC also denied the SPP's request for a stay and for institution of settlement procedures. The FERC stated it would not institute settlement procedures unless parties on both sides of the matter requested them. The FERC did not rule on OG&E's complaint or the complaints of other project sponsors, or consider the SPP's refund plan. The FERC thus has not set any date for payment of refunds. On March 2, 2020, OG&E petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for review of the FERC's order denying the waiver and requiring refunds. The appeal will likely be decided by the second quarter of 2021. The Registrants cannot predict the outcome of this proceeding based on currently available information, and as of December 31, 2020 and at present time, the Registrants have not reserved an amount for a potential refund. If the reversal of the July 2016 FERC order remains intact, OG&E estimates it would be required to refund $13.0 million, which is net of amounts paid to other utilities for upgrades and would be subject to interest at the FERC-approved rate. If refunds were required, recovery of these upgrade credits would shift to future periods. Of the $13.0 million, the Registrants would be impacted by $5.0 million in expense that initially benefited the Registrants in 2016, and OG&E customers would incur a net impact of $8.0 million in expense through rider mechanisms or the FERC formula rate. On January 31, 2020, the FERC acted on an SPP proposal to eliminate Attachment Z2 revenue crediting and replace it with a different rate mechanism that would provide project sponsors, such as OG&E, the same level of recovery, and rejected the proposal to the extent it would limit recovery to the amount of the upgrade sponsor's directly assigned upgrade costs with interest. The SPP resubmitted a proposal on April 29, 2020 without this limited recovery, and with the alternative rate mechanism, and the FERC approved it on June 30, 2020, effective July 1, 2020. No party sought rehearing of the order, and it is now final. This order would only prospectively impact OG&E and its recovery of any future upgrade costs that it may incur as a project sponsor. All of the existing projects that are eligible to receive revenue credits under Attachment Z2, which includes the $13.0 million at issue in OG&E's appeal as discussed above, will continue to do so. APSC Proceedings Arkansas 2020 Formula Rate Plan Filing On October 1, 2020, OG&E filed its third evaluation report under its Formula Rate Plan, and on January 28, 2021, OG&E entered into a non-unanimous settlement agreement with the APSC General Staff and the Office of the Arkansas Attorney General. The only non-signatory to the settlement agreement has agreed not to oppose the settlement. The settlement agreement includes a revenue increase of $6.7 million, which is the maximum amount statutorily allowed in this filing. Additionally, the settling parties will not object to OG&E's request for a finding that the Arkansas Series II grid modernization projects included in this filing are prudent in cost. A final order is requested from the APSC in March 2021, and new rates will become effective April 1, 2021. Disconnection Procedures Related to COVID-19 On September 17, 2020, the APSC issued Order No. 9 inviting comments from all jurisdictional utilities and any other interested stakeholders on specific questions related to whether a moratorium on service terminations should be lifted and if so, how the resumption of disconnections should occur. The APSC also ordered utilities to submit a detailed "Transitional Plan" outlining how utilities propose to reinstate routine service disconnection activities and collection of past due amounts once the moratorium is lifted. OG&E submitted its proposed Transitional Plan on October 14, 2020. The APSC General Staff thereafter filed reports for utilities that set forth recommendations as to the form of notice that should occur prior to lifting the moratorium and resuming disconnections, as well as payment arrangements that should be made available to customers. On February 8, 2021, the APSC issued Order No. 15 announcing a target date of May 3, 2021 to lift the moratorium on disconnections and requiring certain conditions and requirements that utilities must meet before disconnections may resume. Such requirements include, among other things, immediate communication to customers, notice periods for disconnections and deferred payment arrangements. In the interim, the APSC is expected to continue to review all information relevant to a discontinuation of the moratorium and is expected to issue an order on March 26, 2021, either confirming the lifting of the moratorium on disconnections, or extending the moratorium. OCC Proceedings Oklahoma Retail Electric Supplier Certified Territory Act Causes Several rural electric cooperative electricity suppliers have filed complaints with the OCC alleging that OG&E has violated the Oklahoma Retail Electric Supplier Certified Territory Act. OG&E believes it is lawfully serving customers specifically exempted from this act and has presented evidence and testimony to the OCC supporting its position. There have been five complaint cases initiated at the OCC, and the OCC has issued decisions on each of them. The OCC ruled in favor of the electric cooperatives in three of those cases and ruled in favor of OG&E in two of those cases. All five of those cases have been appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, where they have been made companion cases but will be individually briefed and have individual final decisions. If the Oklahoma Supreme Court ultimately were to find that some or all of the customers being served are not exempted from the Oklahoma Retail Electric Supplier Certified Territory Act, OG&E would have to evaluate the recoverability of some plant investments made to serve these customers. The total amount of OG&E's plant investments made to serve the customers in all five cases is approximately $28.0 million, of which $11.7 million applies to the three cases where the OCC ruled in favor of the electric cooperatives. In addition to the evaluation of the recoverability of the investments, OG&E may also be required to reimburse certified territory suppliers for an amount of lost revenue. The amount of such lost revenue would depend on how the OCC calculates the revenue requirement but could range from approximately $14.5 million to $21.7 million for all five cases, of which $1.4 million to $2.3 million would apply to the three cases where the OCC ruled in favor of the electric cooperatives. October 2020 Storm Examination In October 2020, a major ice storm moved through OG&E's service territory which caused significant damage to the system. On November 17, 2020, the Public Utility Division of the OCC initiated an examination and review of all distribution utilities and cooperatives affected by the storm into the mitigation efforts, restoration processes and proposed improvements for future related or similar events. Respondents are required to provide certain information related to the examination, and the OCC may request additional relief as the examination proceeds. No procedural schedule has been proposed currently; however, OG&E is responding to discovery requests. February 2021 Extreme Cold Weather Event In February 2021, OG&E's service territory experienced an unprecedented, prolonged, cold spell that resulted in record winter peak demand for electricity and extreme natural gas and purchased power prices. OG&E's natural gas costs for the month of February 2021 exceeded the total cost for all of 2020. Fuel and purchased power costs are recovered through OG&E's Oklahoma and Arkansas fuel adjustment clauses. Estimates of the total regulatory asset for fuel and purchased power costs that will be recorded are still under development but are expected to be in the range of $800.0 million to $1.0 billion. For approximately 58,000 guaranteed flat bill customers, representing approximately three percent of load, OG&E may be unable to seek recovery for the incremental fuel and purchased power costs that are included in customers' guaranteed flat bill agreements which would result in a loss to OG&E. Full impacts cannot be determined until all settlements and invoices are received for this period. While borrowing availability still exists within the Registrants' credit facilities, OGE Energy has secured a commitment for $1.0 billion in additional short-term financing to provide additional liquidity to help cover these increased fuel and purchased power costs. On February 24, 2021, OG&E submitted an application to the OCC outlining a two-step approach for regulatory treatment for the fuel and purchased power costs associated with the unprecedented weather event. The steps include: (i) an intra-year fuel clause increase to be effective April 1, 2021; and (ii) a request for regulatory asset treatment at OG&E's weighted average cost of capital for the remaining fuel and purchased power costs. OG&E anticipates making a similar filing with the APSC.

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- Definition Describes all of the specific events that have or may impact rates and amortization of regulatory assets and liabilities (for example, pending or recently concluded regulatory proceedings). Specifics may include quantifications related to rates, costs, and earnings. Events may relate to rate moratoriums or price tags. + References No definition available. + Details
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