The Oklahoma Corporation Commission today unanimously approved an order directing Public Service Company of Oklahoma to return approximately $428 million in deferred excess income taxes to customers.
Commission Chairman Dana Murphy says the order also denies PSO’s request that the company be allowed to keep a portion of the money because of a claimed shortfall for certain months.
“This is money that is owed customers as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that took effect January 1,” said Murphy. “The Commission issued an order in the first week of January for all utilities to begin tracking the resulting over collection of taxes for refund to customers. I commend the company for moving promptly to do follow the order. However, there is no doubt this money should be returned to customers. Issues regarding any claimed shortfalls in the company’s income should be addressed in a rate case.”
Commission Vice Chairman Todd Hiett agreed.
“Simply put, these are dollars that are over collected from ratepayers, and they need to go back to ratepayers,” Hiett said.
It’s estimated that the refund for the average residential customer will be $6/month for 2018.