OK: Hugo Plant Outage Will Raise Energy Rates

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Hugo Plant Outage Will Raise Energy Rates

Affected Area Creeps Into Metro Area

HUGO, Okla. , 7:42 a.m. CDT July 6, 2001 -- An outage at a coal-burning power plant in Hugo will affect what more than 500,000 customers, located mostly in southern Oklahoma, pay for electricity this summer.

The facility shut down June 10 when a steam turbine halted. A new rotor has been ordered from Virginia, but it could be mid-August or longer before the plant is operating again, officials said Thursday.

The Hugo Power Plant is one of three operated by Western Farmers Electric Cooperative, which provides power for 19 member co-ops and Altus Air Force Base.

Since the Hugo plant is off line during the peak summer demand, Western Farmers Electric Cooperative is having to produce more power at its two natural gas-fueled plants, which is more costly than power produced by coal. It also is having to purchase power on the open market.

The increased cost is passed on to its member cooperatives, Western Farmers spokeswoman Sondra Boykin said Thursday. If the cooperative passes that cost on to individual users, the average residential customer could see a 20 percent increase for July and August usage, or until the Hugo plant is fixed.

Most of Western Farmers' co-ops serve rural communities, but some reach into bigger cities. The biggest member user is Oklahoma Electric Cooperative at Norman. It has 36,000 customers in Norman and south Oklahoma City.

Max Meek, OEC's chief executive officer, said Thursday that the cost increase would be passed on to its customers, but would be spread out over six months and reflect only 6 to 8 percent more than normal.

Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press.

http://www.channeloklahoma.com/okl/news/stories/news-86005520010706-060747.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), July 06, 2001


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