Oklahoma utility regulators consider request for rate cut

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma utility regulators are considering a request by the state’s attorney general to reduce customer rates from electricity and natural gas providers who could save up to $100 million in new federal corporate tax cuts.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission convened a hearing Thursday to consider Attorney General Mike Hunter’s request that consumer rates be reduced to reflect lower federal corporate income tax rates.

Hunter filed motions to cut utility rates last month when President Donald Trump signed into law a sweeping overhaul of federal income taxes. The new law, which went into effect Monday, lowers the highest corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.

The utility companies include Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Natural Gas, CenterPoint Energy and Arkansas Oklahoma Gas.