Action by the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority’s board of directors on Thursday will lift the financial burden of skyrocketing natural gas costs from the shoulders of Kingfisher electric customers.

Spikes in energy costs typically are passed on to utility customers in the form of tarrifs, but the precedent-setting economic impact of the extended February Arctic blast has left utilities scrambling to find other solutions.

The sustained cold snap of subfreezing temperatures and subzero wind chills strained the capacity of the state’s electrical grid and sent the cost of power production into the stratosphere.

OMPA, which provides power to Kingfisher and 41 other member cities and towns, estimates its impact at upwards of $60 million, though the exact amount will not be known for several months.

The 11-member OMPA board, which includes Kingfisher City Manager Dave Slezickey, unanimously approved a plan Thursday to spread the financial impact over a period of seven years.

As a result, member cities are not expected to see any wholesale rate increases for 2021 or 2022 as a result of storm costs.

The plan involves using money from OMPA’s rate stabilization fund as well as proceeds from a loan to be amortized over the course of the next seven years.

The exact amount to be financed will be determined over the next two months as costs become more certain, Dave Osborn, OMPA general manager, said.

“I am very pleased with the plan developed by staff and our financial advisers,” Osborn said. “To be able to cover the extraordinary cost of the winter storm event and protect our members from cost increases is a win.”

Slezickey noted that utility customers will still see higher than normal bills in April, depending on how much extra electricity was consumed to keep individual households warm and protect pipes from freezing last month.

“But OMPA’s action will protect our customers from the stratospheric bills that utility customers are seeing in other parts of the country,” he said.

“And we will always work with anyone to set up a payment plan for this or any other hardship.”