New rates, if approved, will go into effect in the third quarter of 2011, and the company estimates the new rates will cause the average OG&E Arkansas residential electric bill to increase by about $6.61 per month.
OG&E vice president of regulatory affairs Howard Motley said that the requested increase will help the company recover investments in electric infrastructure including high-voltage transmission lines and wind energy, as well as rising operating costs.
OG&E, a subsidiary of Oklahoma City-based OGE Energy, serves more than 780,000 electric customers in a service area spanning 30,000 square miles, including about 65,000 customers in western Arkansas.
