ONG, Corporation Commission reach tentative agreement

Wednesday, April 5th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission have reached a tentative $57 million revenue reduction agreement that is expected to lower costs for ONG customers.

But how much ONG customers will save through the agreement is still not certain, Corporation Commission officials said Tuesday. Testimony about the joint stipulation and other aspects of the case is scheduled to resume Friday.

"At this point, it's still being discussed," said commission spokesman Jim Palmer.

Under the agreement, the Oklahoma operations of Kansas Gas Service Co., a division of Oneok, Inc., will be consolidated with ONG, also a division of Oneok.

The revenue reduction will be effective with the consolidated company's first billing cycle after May 31, according to the agreement. The revenue reduction includes an annual depreciation expense of nearly $30 million.

Under the agreement, ONG also agreed to dismiss its appeal of a commission order that deregulated portions of the utility's operations.

The order unbundled the upstream natural gas gathering and storage services of ONG and Kansas Gas. In the future, storage and gathering services will be based on the market and not set by the commission.