OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 5 -- OG&E has again asked permission to raise electric utility rates on families, small businesses, and industry, to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for the utility's past, unapproved decision to retrofit the 40-year-old Sooner coal-fired power plant. Already denied approval twice in recent years by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) and the courts, OG&E filed this new request over the holidays with the OCC. The company's data indicates that typical family would see their monthly electric bill rise nearly 8% as a result of this rate case.
Located between Stillwater and Ponca City, the Sooner coal plant has struggled to operate in a modern electric grid that features newer, more efficient, cost-competitive ge...