Natural gas pipeline carrier Enogex Inc. is awaiting a report,which could be released today, from the Oklahoma CorporationCommission (OCC) and the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office of itsallegations that it was wrongly disqualified from the biddingprocess that Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. uses to select transmissionservices for its customers.

Enogex claims that the bids submitted to deliver gas to ONGmarkets were valid but thrown out to favor ONG affiliate Oneok GasTransmission Co., the “default provider.”

The competitive bid process, the first of its kind in Oklahoma,is part of the state’s deregulation of the natural gas industry. Itdisqualifies bids if they exceed benchmark prices or exceed thecost of serving ONG markets, which include Oklahoma City and Tulsa.The benchmarks were established to ensure ratepayer savings, with adifferent benchmark price for each area served by ONG.

Enogex, which filed a complaint with the OCC, said that thebenchmark prices were calculated incorrectly, with the incorrectinformation eliminating valid bids. Those valid bids, claimsEnogex, would have resulted in savings to ONG ratepayers in bothOklahoma City and Tulsa.

With the bids to provide transmission services to those citiesrejected, Oneok, the default provider, has the right to providethose services at tariff rates, which are significantly higher thanthe bids submitted, said Enogex.

ONG discounted Enogex’s claims, and said that the bids wereevaluated under strict rules established by the state’s regulators.It also said that ratepayers were not harmed by the process.However, an ONG spokesman said he could not comment on thedisqualification because of pending litigation.

In its complaint, Enogex asked that the OCC find that ONGimproperly favored its own affiliate and also wants OCC to requireONG to re-evaluate the bids submitted for transmission service. ONGserves about 800,000 Oklahoma customers.

Enogex is a subsidiary of OGE Energy Corp., which is also theparent of the state’s largest electric utility, Oklahoma Gas &Electric.

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