The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has authorized Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. to expand its smart grid program statewide by investing up to $366 million during the next three years, $127 million of which will be paid from federal stimulus funding. Company officials said they expect to save about $22 million in operational costs through the program, a savings that will be returned to consumers.
This smart-grid project approval is a good sign following decisions by MD and OH PUCs, which had declined or deferred from providing cost recovery for smart grid deployments by Baltimore Gas & Electric and First Energy, respectively.