Did an Oklahoma agency 'fleece' ratepayers after the 2021 winter storm? What a new subpoena aims to find out

Officials at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission will have just 20 days to comply with a demand from the attorney general's office for information about how the agency addressed issues surrounding Winter Storm Uri.

On Tuesday, Drummond’s office subpoenaed the entire Oklahoma Corporation Commission seeking information about how the agency and its staff handled the February 2021 storm and its aftermath.

That subpoena — which is rare for an entire agency — is likely to generate thousands of documents and raise new questions about how state regulators addressed the storm. Drummond said he took the action to hold "bad actors accountable."

“Attorney General Drummond promised Oklahomans he would do everything in his authority to hold accountable bad actors who raked in billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains. These efforts remain ongoing and will continue until proper relief for ratepayers is secured,” Drummond's spokesman Phil Bacharach said Wednesday in a statement to The Oklahoman.

Commissioner called issues with winter storm 'the largest fleecing of the Oklahoma ratepayer in the history of the state'

Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony, who has continued to question how regulators handled the winter storm, said he was glad the attorney general was reviewing the agency's handling of the storm.

"I'm pleased to learn of the attorney general's interest in the full scope of wrongdoing surrounding 2021's winter storm Uri, including possible collusion between utility company employees and people ostensibly working for the state of Oklahoma," Anthony said. "I agree whole-heartedly with the attorney general's July assessment that Oklahoma ratepayers are paying the price on their utility bills for billions of dollars 'ill-gotten gains' obtained by bad actors through conduct 'well outside the parameters and boundaries of ordinary capitalism.'"

For more than a year, Anthony said, official commission filings showed there was evidence to suggest unlawful conduct "surrounding the securitization savings scheme invented to cover up irresponsible, even shady business dealings of the winter storm."

"I have repeatedly called the whole sordid saga 'the largest fleecing of the Oklahoma ratepayer in the history of the state,'" he said.

Commission Chairman Todd Hiett said he, too, welcomed the subpoena.

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“I have long said that the Attorney General is the proper authority to investigate the actions of the unregulated markets that left the consumer, utilities, and state officials grappling with record high natural gas costs from Uri," Hiett said in a prepared statement. "I am gratified he is taking this matter very seriously, and the OCC will do all it can to help."

What to know about Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond's subpoena

Drummond's three-page subpoena was sent to Brandy Wreath, the administrative director of the commission and to the agency’s top attorney, Pat Franz. Drummond’s office said it wanted “all communications of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s commissioners and their staff, and employees of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, who were involved, directly or indirectly with Winter Storm Uri cost recovery.”

Drummond's subpoena is the latest chapter in the ongoing story of the February 2021 winter storm known as Uri. That storm left millions without power across Oklahoma, Texas and other Midwestern states and led to skyrocketing natural gas costs. After the storm, the Corporation Commission agreed to a proposal that let utility companies use state bonds to pay off the nearly $3 billion in fuel costs and recover the funds from customers over the next two decades.

Speaking at a news conference this summer, Drummond said it was clear “that several companies reaped billions of dollars at the expense of Oklahoma families and businesses.”

“That's billions with a B," the attorney general said. "The magnitude of this scheme is staggering and unconscionable. The conduct in question is well outside the parameters and boundaries of ordinary capitalism. It is my duty to protect Oklahoma consumers and ratepayers and that is why I am here today to offer this solemn pledge — I will do everything in my power as attorney general to return what was taken and to hold accountable those responsible. Every option is currently on the table.”

At the same time, though, Drummond said Oklahoma's utility companies were not to blame for the problem. "It is important to understand that our oil and gas industry is not to blame. It is equally important to understand that our utility companies are not to blame," he said during his news conference.

Just a year before, in 2022, then-Attorney General John O'Connor, shelved a proposal to file multiple lawsuits against oil and gas companies for violating Oklahoma's price stabilization law during the storm. O'Connor's letter to oil and gas companies was criticized by the Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma.

The group had planned to challenge O'Connor's efforts, until O'Connor said he had dropped the proposal. Since then the debate over the winter storm, and how regulators and utilities performed, has continued.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma commission subpoena raises 2021 new winter storm questions