VOICE is seeking answers to several questions related to the storm, including:
• Who made a profit from the storm, and will the Oklahoma Attorney General conduct a grand jury investigation into that issue?
• What policies were in place that allowed this to happen, and who, if anyone, will be held accountable?
• How did utility companies fail to have hedging contracts in place that could have capped at least some of their fuel costs during the storm?
• Why won t shareholders of publicly traded utilities have to carry some of the financial responsibility for decisions made by those companies leaders?
“Oklahomans experienced 46 ‘extreme weather events’ between 2010 and 2020,” said Pam Bracken, a VOICE member representing Mosaic United Methodist Church. “What’s going to happen to utility costs after the next storm, and the one after that? Our policy can’t be, ‘Oh, shucks, fooled again, we’ll pay it this time, but just wait until next time.”
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Janelle Stecklein/ CNHI State Reporter Apr 14, 2021
An OU student walks down Asp Ave., Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. (Kyle Phillips / The Transcript)
OKLAHOMA CITY â Citizen advocates Wednesday said theyâre alarmed that a legislative plan that proposes securitizing nearly $4.5 billion in debt from Februaryâs winter storm comes without a thorough, transparent investigation into why the stateâs energy supply system failed.
Leaders with VOICE, a coalition of religious congregations, worker associations, schools and non-profit groups, said taxpayers deserve to know who profited from Februaryâs winter weather. They called for Attorney General Mike Hunter to hold profiteers accountable, and they questioned what measures could be put in place to prevent future rate spikes.
Advocates call for transparent investigation into cost spikes mcalesternews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mcalesternews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.