Kingfisher Public Works Authority electric customers who are anticipating extreme sticker shock when February electric bills hit their mailboxes at the end of March will be in for a surprise.

City Manager Dave Slezickey announced this week that the city’s wholesale power provider, the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority, is in the process of obtaining a loan to absorb the spike in natural gas costs during February’s record-setting cold snap.

“Electric usage was higher during the severe weather and customer bills next month will be slightly higher than last year for that reason, but the power cost adjustment due to skyrocketing natural gas prices will not be felt by our customers,” Slezickey said. “The severe cold impacted the supply and availability of natural gas for electric generation, causing the price of natural gas to tremendously increase.”

OMPA’s expense for natural gas purchased for the four-day period from Feb. 12-15 was nearly 4.5 times higher than the expense for entire year of 2020, Slezickey said.

“As a public power provider, OMPA kept the power on, putting people over profits,” he said. “We are always available to work out a payment plan for utility bills for customers with a financial hardship.”