Senate passes bill limiting utility-funded rebates for customers switching energy sources

The Oklahoma Senate passed Senate Bill 335 on third reading after floor debate over whether the measure gave preferential treatment to natural gas and how rebates would be administered.

Senator Adam Green, the bill’s author, described the measure as focused on consumer appliances and “fuel switching,” saying the bill would limit circumstances under which utilities could subsidize customers switching between electricity and natural gas. "This bill is not about generation. This bill is about fuel switching, consumer appliances," Green said on the floor. He said the bill would help keep more electrons in the grid because natural gas appliances won’t be pulling from the grid.

Senator Michael Boren led the most sustained floor opposition, pressing whether the bill would strip the Oklahoma Corporation Commission of authority to approve rebates for customers who switch from natural gas to electricity and arguing the measure amounted to a series of laws that increasingly favored natural gas over other energy sources. Boren cited Title 17 provisions and warned that repeated statutory preferences could stifle innovation and expose consumers to price spikes driven by market manipulation: "Natural gas is vulnerable to market manipulation, unlike solar and wind," he said.

Green and other supporters responded that the bill preserves the commission’s ability to grant waivers where appropriate, and that it is intended to prevent ratepayers from subsidizing appliance purchases in ways the sponsors consider poor consumer protection. In floor remarks, supporters emphasized the bill’s focus on household fuel switching and consumer-appliance policy rather than electric generation.

The roll call produced 45 ayes and 0 nays. The president declared Senate Bill 335 passed and advanced as an emergency measure.

What it means: The measure narrows the circumstances under which ratepayers can be required to fund rebates for customers who switch fuels, and it frames the change as a consumer-protection and grid-management measure. It leaves open the Corporation Commission’s ability to consider waivers in cases the commission finds consistent with its statutory goals.

Votes at passage: Senate Bill 335 — passed 45–0.

Next steps: The bill was advanced as an emergency measure on the Senate floor; any further changes would have to come later in the legislative process if the House or conference negotiations alter the language.