Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO), a subsidiary of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), said today that as a result of the continued decline in natural gas prices it will lower the amount of fuel cost recovered from customers starting with May bills. This marks PSO’s fourth reduction in fuel cost adjustment (FCA) in the past six months.
 
The lower FCA that takes effect in May will reduce by $3.13, or 3.93 percent, the bill of a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours, compared with April.
 
Overall, the May fuel cost reduction totals $66 million.
 
Due to falling natural gas prices, PSO implemented FCA reductions in December 2008, and in February and March of this year.
 
With the May FCA reduction in effect, PSO will have lowered the fuel charge to customers by a total of $370 million since November 2008, and reduced the monthly bill for a typical residential customer by a total of $30.26, or 28.4 percent, during the same period.
 
PSO usually adjusts the fuel cost portion of customer bills once per year, in June, unless fuel costs change dramatically during the course of the year, as they have over the past six months. When that happens, an adjustment to fuel factors is made. PSO monitors fuel costs each month to determine whether an adjustment – up or down – in fuel cost recovery from customers is appropriate.
 
PSO does not make any profit or a markup on fuel costs; customers pay only the actual costs that PSO pays for fuel that is used to generate electricity.
 
PSO, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving approximately 527,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. Based in Tulsa, PSO has 4,405 megawatts of generating capacity, and is the largest provider of wind energy in the state. News releases and other information about PSO can be found on the World Wide Web at PSOklahoma.com.
 
American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.