In Oklahoma, a Record-Breaking Summer Ends With the Bills Still Coming

In Oklahoma, a Record-Breaking Summer Ends With the Bills Still Coming

Oklahoma City spent the summer keeping count. By Sept. 9, the city had gone 54 consecutive days with highs at or above 90°F — its fifth-longest such streak on record — and had set 13 daily heat records since Jan. 1. The average high from June through August was 95.6°F, the eighth-hottest summer in city history. Days at or above 100°F went from one in 2025 to 35 this year. Tulsa recorded its hottest September on record, about 3°F above the 1939 mark.

A Statewide Record That Kept Moving

The Oklahoma Mesonet's numbers describe something larger than one city. Statewide, the average temperature from January through August was 66.9°F, 4.2 degrees above normal and the warmest first eight months ever measured in Oklahoma. August averaged 86.5°F, 5.7 degrees above normal, with an average high of 100.8°F — the third-warmest and fifth-driest August on record. September averaged about 83°F, nearly 3 degrees above the 1931 record. Through September, the year ran 68.7°F, 4.9 degrees above normal and 1.6 degrees above 2012.

The Air Conditioner Is the Biggest Load

Heat becomes an electricity story through the compressor. "Even if you haven't changed the temperature that your house is set at, with it being so hot, your air conditioner is running a lot more," Andrea Dennis, OG&E's vice president of transmission and distribution operations, told The Journal Record. "Air conditioning is our largest load in the summer." The Southwest Power Pool, the grid operator for 14 states including Oklahoma, hit a peak of 58.0 gigawatts on July 27, 3.5% above its previous record of 56.0 gigawatts set in August 2023. SPP says seven of the 10 most congested points on its grid are in Oklahoma, and it expects statewide demand to double over the next decade.

The Utility Says the Wires Held

OG&E rejects the premise that Oklahomans faced a failing grid. "When you see those headlines that the grid is aging, the grid is failing, that is not true in Oklahoma," chief communications officer Christi Woodworth said. The company points to a phase-shifting transformer installed in 2017 and years of line upgrades. SPP set a 16% planning reserve margin for this summer and 36% for winter. The human ledger is harder to dismiss: Oklahoma City's EMSA ambulance service responded to at least 430 heat emergencies and took 299 patients to hospitals; in Tulsa, EMSA had answered 428 heat calls and transported 278 people by Aug. 31. On Sept. 12, Oklahoma City hit 106°F, 21 degrees above normal for the date.

A Rate Case Waiting for Spring

On Sept. 30, OG&E asked the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for a $395 million increase — its first general rate review since December 2023. The company says the average household would pay $23.88 more a month, about 17.5%, or $286.56 over a year; new rates would not arrive before spring 2027. OG&E serves about 917,000 customers. Public Service Company of Oklahoma has a $597 million request pending, roughly $25 a month, or $144 a year, for the average home.

Shutoffs Continued Through the Heat

Nationally, the Energy Information Administration counted 13.4 million residential disconnections in 2024. Data that the National Energy Assistance Directors Association provided to The Guardian showed 173,598 households cut off across 10 states in July 2026, 28% more than in July 2024, with Oklahoma among the southern states where the rate runs high. EIA filings compiled by Electric Consumer put Oklahoma at about 572,480 nonpayment disconnections in 2024, or 30.4 per 100 accounts. State rules suspend disconnections when the forecast heat index reaches 101°F.

Who Absorbs the Cost

The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps about six million households pay for heating and cooling. The White House has proposed eliminating its federal funding for a third straight budget cycle; Congress rejected the request the previous two years. Oklahoma received about $41 million in federal energy assistance for fiscal 2026. OG&E says part of its rate increase would expand senior and low-income discounts.

Data Centers at the Edge of the Grid

Demand is still climbing. A state law requires large new data centers to pay for their own connections and supply infrastructure, but rural cooperatives remain exposed. An 800-megawatt data center can consume three times what every other customer on a co-op uses, the Oklahoma Farm Report was told. SPP's Northeast Oklahoma transmission project, a 345-kilovolt line, is scheduled to start construction in 2028 and finish in 2029.

Drought Behind the Heat

Heat and dry ground reinforced each other. By early September, drought covered 100% of the state, according to the Mesonet. Winter wheat seeding was 3% complete as of Sept. 13, half the five-year average. The state's Emergency Drought Committee released $2 million for pond cleaning and well drilling. The state climatologist expects a strengthening El Niño to bring a cooler, wetter winter and spring.

What Comes Next

The rate cases will grind through the Corporation Commission for months, with PSO's still open and OG&E's new rates not due before next spring. The transmission line will not break ground until 2028. Families will head into winter on the same grid. A cooler, wetter winter may ease cooling demand, but it shifts the pressure to heating bills — and it does not retire the risk that next summer repeats this one.