Marketers are the middlemen between natural gas producers and utility companies. In 2023, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed several lawsuits alleging marketers had illegally hiked natural gas prices.
According to a 2023 investigation by the attorney general's office, the companies used a so-calledshort squeeze to create an unnecessary surge in natural gas prices from $3 per unit to $1200 per unit just as Oklahoma's temperatures plummeted. At the time the suit was filed, Drummond estimated it cost Oklahomans billions of extra dollars to heat their homes during the five-day winter weather event.
Now, an Osage County Court judge has ruled one of those marketers, NextEra Energy Marketing, is responsible for artificially inflated natural gas prices.
"This ruling marks an important victory in our fight to hold NextEra accountable for the staggering prices Oklahomans were forced to pay during Winter Storm Uri," Drummond said in a statement.
Although the judge says NextEra is liable, the court will hold a trial to determine how much NextEra must pay to compensate for the illegal cost hikes.
This ruling in state court came a week after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected NextEra's request to move the case to federal court.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
