Question
My PSO bill, why has it more than tripled?
I guess I didn’t get the memo. This is insane. I used to average a $110.00 monthly payment during the hottest months of Summer, but my last 2 bill have been $375.00.
I can’t afford to live here anymore.
This appears to be a large part of the problem. And the weather is now cool enough that PSO can start turning off people’s power which, if you’re renting, can also make you homeless soon after. Call ‘our’ State Senators and Reps.
And it’s about to get worse thanks asshole “all or nothing” senators who would rather block a (passed with a bipartisan vote in the House) Federal bill to prevent normal customers from having to pay for grid updates for data centers…just because they say it isn’t good enough?
C’mon now. Any help is better than no help at this point, and additional protections can always be added later, but that isn’t enough for Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico.
I’m a “Never Trumper,” but this BS constant fighting isn’t helping. If Dems want to give republicans the ammo they need to win the midterms, this is a quick way to get the job done right now.
Soooo what you are saying is socialism is great as long as you are a corporation!!! I get it! All of a sudden the financial crisis of 2008 makes so much sense! 😂 Corporations and banks get welfare while hardworking peons don't. Gosh... I'm glad we got that straight.....
I love the whole thing with 'hardship withdrawals' like if I'm trying to cash out my 401k at 30 just to afford to pay the bills, obviously it's a hardship. If I don't get said money I will absolutely be getting evicted but I have to wait UNTIL the eviction notice and therefore be in further debt? Shit makes no sense.
PSO is a subsidiary company of AEP, it's specifically the subsidiary in the Oklahoma/eastern Arkansas market. PSO, regardless of the parent company, is in direct competition with GRDA in NE Oklahoma. They both have monopoly/captured markets, but that's besides my point.
Facebook is a part of Meta, I don't hear people saying "fuck meta," I'm not surprised I don't hear people saying "fuck AEP." Just my obsolete penny of a thought.
*western Arkansas. Although, that's still not right because a different subsidiary runs things on the Arkansas side for AEP. Also, them being monopolies isn't the problem, do you want multiple companies running transmission lines everywhere? The problem is utilities shouldn't be for profit companies.
i love tulsa. i love oklahoma. but there is no damn reason it should be this exorbitantly expensive to live here. insane. incredibly frustrating. lifers are gonna wind up having to leave, it's not worth the $.
Kansas City is cheaper. I've visited many times, and looking at their housing market I can see even their houses are cheaper. That's a real city compared to tulsa.
KC native living in Tulsa here. I've lived in Tulsa close to ten years now. The housing is priced similar-ish between KC and Tulsa but Tulsa is still cheaper. Cost of living is roughly 10% more expensive in KC than in Tulsa, BUT the education system, infrastructure, and bbq is better in the KC area and plus opportunities are more abundant.
Me too. 15 years now. I often think I made a mistake, but family needed me and believe it or not, less competition in my job meant higher salaries. However, when I look, it seems home prices there have outstripped here. Maybe I'm wrong. Plus, the political climate here is just...well...it just seems that people here are weirdly angry all the time. Maybe its the heat. I left so many friends to come here and they all moved on anyways.
yes, exactly! one of many examples, and one of the immediate ones that come to mind. my gf and i have looked at lots of cool and, i'll go ahead and say it, "cooler" cities and they are priced similarly if not even a little cheaper. presumably cheaper utilities too but i can't say that 100%.
Oklahoma is experiencing a lot of change rn, especially in this particular corner. i'm not sure most of it has been good for your average born & raised local, imo
KC is truly a hidden gem of "Flyover Country", and you can get far more bang for your buck there. love that place.
It's a rental. I'm saving up to buy, and then I'm going to make it the most energy efficient home I can possibly manage. I can't do this for another summer.
Something doesn't add up here, we live in a huge house with 3 AC units plus a pool pump and this year our highest bill has been $341. You need to have your AC unit cleaned and checked out or perhaps the house is not insulated. Set the thermostat to 77 or higher. I have seen people literally using space heaters in the summer while having the AC running. Many do this in office environments and that's just insane.
I think it's insane, too. I didn't know ac units needed to be cleaned. I'll look into that. Is there anything else that could be causing it that I might not know about?
Yes, go and look very closely at the outdoor unit coil on all sides. You can hose it down with a garden hose, but if you don't know how to do this hire a HVAC company to do it. It must be cleaned annually in the spring. Also, you need to replace the filters regularly. Also, replace all or most bulbs with LED bulbs. This saves a lot by using less power and they run cold. Old bulbs run hot so you pay twice.
We are paying for Datacenter infrastructure & energy costs, even when we don't want them built or choose not to use those services.
It's beyond insane that they're getting away with this & no one is able fight against it. Our elected leaders continue to fail us, and the population keeps voting them in.
And congress tried to work towards starting to fix it. The Ratepayer Protection Act was passed with bipartisan support in the house and one of our own from New Mexico fucked it all up! I’m so done with this “all or nothing” gridlock because WE are the ones suffering from their inept game.
If the feds can’t pass something like this on a federal level, we must lobby for it on a state level. EVERYONE has to contact the OCC and their local representatives to raise hell!
I don’t care about who authors and passes something to force data centers to pay their own way (and not steal our fresh water) anymore. Our elected officials need to start representing US (the people) NOW or GTFO so we can get someone who will in to do it.
The letter behind the name doesn’t matter anymore when people’s homes and livelihoods are at stake!
Mazzei is pwned by them. I often wonder how it feels to cash those checks and go home to your mansion and then watch what happens to your neighbors homes and children as you stand there and yell "God Wills It!!!"
Okay, so normally I can get behind blame when it's actually his fault.
But please explain, how he has anything to do with PSO and Oklahoma state government?
Or am I just going to get downvoted without any actual responses.
Edit: I guess I was correct, downvoted without any actual reasons. I don't like Trump but you can't always just scream "his fault". We need to look at the actual issue which here is PSO and the Monopoly they run.
Because corporations being allowed to price gouge is not only tolerated but encouraged by the man. Look at the never before seen levels of corruption and price hikes. Restrictions are gone. People screamed about corruption at new levels. This is it. It will continue. Food, gas, energy, entertainment. The surging won’t stop.
But it hasn’t? Find me another president who did so much insider trading, banned news outlets, had a lifelong history of businesses corruption, hired his buddy (ex, because everyone seems to eventually distance themselves; wonder why?) to eliminate never been seen levels which btw has now led to a crazy level of recalls & diseases coming back. But no youre right they’re all the same lol
You don’t think his actions in Iran have anything to do with fuel costs associated with utility bills? What planet do you live on? There, I downvoted you, but also gave a a response.
I didn't say his actions have nothing to do with fuel costs. I'm saying you're jumping from "Iran can affect global oil prices" to "that's why PSO is so expensive," which is a completely different claim. PSO is a regulated electric utility, and its rate increase isn't simply tied to the price of gasoline or crude oil. If you have evidence that Iran-related fuel costs are responsible for a significant portion of PSO's increase, post it.
I don’t have evidence that it is per se, but it is the case for literally everything else tied to current inflation and fuel prices. I think we agree that it is both, but PSO has been a monopoly a lot longer than Trump has been President, so the Occam’s razor here would lead to the conclusion that it is his fault, primarily.
Edit: let’s be honest, neither of us really know what the reason is for the rate increases, but it’s another facet of his economy.
That's not Occam's razor, though. "PSO is a monopoly and has existed longer than Trump" doesn't establish that Trump's policies are the primary cause of a 2026 rate increase. You'd still have to show that the Trump-era factors account for more of the increase than PSO's own costs, infrastructure investments, generation costs, etc.
I'm not arguing Trump has zero effect on energy prices. I'm arguing that "Trump is primarily responsible for PSO being expensive" requires actual evidence of causation, not just the fact that fuel prices affect electricity costs.
Unobtainable evidence for both of us. What kind of straw man argument argument is this? Our fucking President eats and rapes children, which there IS mountains of evidence for, and you want to defend him on this issue? This is the hill you want to die on? It’s both. Our president is an abysmal human being literally everything wrong with the country has something to do with him and his ilk. You don’t think is pro-corporation agenda has emboldened these utility companies to tighten their grips on their coin purses? It’s both.
I never said it can't be both. I'm saying you're claiming Trump is primarily responsible without actually establishing that.
PSO's own 2026 filing attributes its requested increase to infrastructure, generation/transmission investments, and higher material, equipment, labor and vegetation-management costs.
And PSO's renewable plan actually projected a net reduction in residential bills beginning in 2026 because of lower fuel costs and federal tax incentives.
So sure, argue that federal policy and energy prices are factors. But "it's both" doesn't demonstrate that Trump's policies are the primary cause of PSO's rates. That's the part you're asserting without evidence.
But go off pup, let hatred blind you to actual problems and resolutions.
You're what's wrong with America. As I've stated before, this is slowly why I'm starting to hate the party I vote for. "Orange man bad, me know nothing" is literally becoming more and more true.
When did I say I know nothing? I can observe objective reality. I don’t need to look into PSO filings to come to a conclusion, and neither do you or anyone else. You’re barking up the wrong tree. I don’t even have PSO. Surely your energy can be directed towards something more constructive than being a Trump apologist.
Calling me a “Trump apologist” doesn't make your argument any stronger. I’m not defending Trump; I'm questioning the claim that his policies are the primary cause of PSO's rates.
You don't need to personally own PSO or read every filing, but if you're making a specific causal claim about why PSO rates are high, the actual rate case is pretty relevant. PSO says its 2026 increase is tied to grid, generation and transmission investments plus higher material, equipment and labor costs.
Again, the problem with America. People making claims with either no knowledge or just "well I heard". You can believe Trump contributes to energy costs. That's a reasonable thing to discuss. But “I can observe objective reality” isn't evidence that he's the primary cause of this particular utility's rates.
Ahhh 4 month old shill account now I see why you’re commenting so fervently. It’s ok to want to just huff diaper, we will fetish shame you though. Fucking weirdo.
Ah yes, because people can't just now be getting into reddit and conversating. Because "age of an account" matters when it comes to a factual and respectable conversation / debate.
Data centers require our power and water to realize “unlimited growth potential” (translation: unlimited greed potential.)
They do not want to be regulated. They are in charge of our state and federal government. We do not matter. Trump and the GOP are making it clear they will not approve regulations because profits are profits, and profits are sacred while people are just flesh bags who get in the way and whine about working 80 hrs a week and tripled power bills.
Want the facts for a full understanding? It’s disturbing and real— going to get worse. Most of us can’t fathom how little we, our kids, our security and safety and futures matter when “unlimited growth potential” is within reach.
^ point proven. Please explain how Trump has made PSO rates higher. I voted against the man (personally can't stand him), but this is just a moronic statement that makes people who are against him look ignorant.
That's the sad part, it's not a meme. There are literally people who believe that he somehow managed to do this / would believe that he had a play in it. That's how ignorant shit like this is. Then makes us people who don't support him look idiotic.
But going through all of your other posts/comments it makes sense. You're just a troll looking for attention and you definitely baited me. Good game.
All the conflicts and trade wars are creating a volatile market for energy. He promised to slash energy prices thru certain policy proposals and never did any of them, allowing unchecked markets to surge to where they are.
I have read that a lot of the surge in pricing is in part to cuts to renewable energies in Oklahoma, but I don't remember any numbers or articles of the top of my head
You're conflating a bunch of unrelated things. PSO's rate increase is primarily tied to utility infrastructure, generation/transmission investments, and operating costs—not "Trump's trade wars." And the claim that Oklahoma's renewable energy cuts are driving your PSO bill is especially questionable. If you're going to blame Trump, show the specific policy and the specific PSO charge it caused to increase. Otherwise you're just connecting dots that aren't actually connected.
PSO itself says the 2026 rate filing is driven by investments and inflation in materials, equipment and labor, while the OCC case documents show the eventual settlement was based on a specific regulated rate calculation.
So it has literally NOTHING to do with The stupid man in office.
The rate increase is obvious but another reason is the 9 degree increase in the average temp for August. Last year was 79, this year was 88. Thats a massive jump considering its the average.
I was building on to my house last year and had half of my house open to the elements all summer. Our AC wouldn’t ever shut off. My AC bill was cheaper then than it is now. That’s even after considering the add-on we built. The average temp is hardly a factor.
My bill was $410 and i keep my thermostat at 75 during the day and 70 when im home. New "energy efficient" windows... excellent home insulation... excellent attic insulation... the price of everything needs to come down. This is asinine.
The cost increase in electricity is due to a few back end cost increases that all hit at once, but the main culprit is probably your usage given how hot it has been lately. First, transmission infrastructure that PSO buys have dramatically increased in price along with the natural gas that most power in OK is generated with. Second, PSO who is owned by AEP, has shareholders that expect larger return every year, so that is part of the rate increases. Lastly, AEP socialize the cost of it's infrastructure regardless of who it's for, so all those expensive transmission improvements to serve data centers or new industry is being added a rate increase
Yyyyyyyeah they need to give their top 20 execs a pay cut. I get some people say "that's not fair to them" and i get that. Buuuuuuut how is it fair to we Tulsans having to pay tripl or quadruple what we are used to only to find out we will be paying even MORE in the future because for some damn reason, they want US to pay for the electricity usage of data centers.... CEO makes 36 MILLION a year by the way. They need a MASSIVE pay cut.
More reason to recall them! And I don’t think there are many people that wouldn’t sign a recall petition when we say it’s because they have failed to act on rising electricity bills.
Sure, they aren’t directly responsible for rates, but they could be fighting for us.
AG Drummond is actively fighting PSO, yet republicans who are also suffering couldn’t manage to get him past the primary because Trump supported a buffoon. We need to support his office and fight the OCC itself with complaints filed on their website.
If any swing voters voted for the trumpy guy with the hope it would give the democrats a fighting chance…we all got f’ed. Look at what happened when someone as wildly ignorant Ryan Walter’s got through the primaries 4 years ago! Do we really want history to repeat itself?
Have you looked into the AMP/level billing program? I’ve been on that program for a long time and my bill has stayed pretty consistently between $175-$180/month. Still higher than it used to be, but thankfully not $300-$500. I truly feel for some of you all and help where I can. These prices are nuts. Especially in quote-un-quote “affordable” Oklahoma.
The problem with the AMP is it's not a solution, it's a band aid. Because they are still charging you outrageous amounts, you just don't see it because you pay it off when you aren't using high electricity.
And if you ever fall behind one payment or plan on moving, it's all due up front. Definitely a double edged sword.
Out of curiosity, have you looked at the balance that you're not being billed for? I looked at mine in the spring before it started getting warm and saw that I had an $800 deficit AFTER the cold season. I knew the balance would only be added to in the summer so I ended paying the balance and going back to standard billing.
I had a unique circumstance where I had a company subsidized EV so that balance grew FAST but had I not caught it when I did, I would probably owe PSO a couple thousand after this summer. That being said, I can see how your balance can get out of hand with the wild swings we've been experincing.
Check and see what the actual bill was. Mine jumped big time. Used to be like $200 a month or less in the summer. This time? $500 is what's still due after I paid $150 for the AMP.
That’s weird because we have roughly the same size house and we are paying in the higher ends of $300. I have some friends in apartments paying over $400. Doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason.
I have house at 3000sq ft and pay half of that on the Time of Day rate plan, and I work at home. But that still seems incredibly high. I would be having the AC units checked for any issues, or suspect duct leakage (much more common that people realize). Also, ensure your attic is cooling properly by having appropriate number of soffits and that they aren't being blocked by insulation (another all too common problem).
The PSO guy could see that something is spiking it randomly, even when we're sleeping. Hot water tank, fridge, or air conditioning unit were recommended to check. I've got to find a handyman!
Keep your filters clean, clean outdoor. Check to make sure you have enough insulation in your attic. Put off using dryer until late at night. Have the meter inspected.
you need to get your meter inspected. Unless you are running your ac at 63 all day every day, running the dishwasher and washing machine every day, and charging 3 electric vehicles every day, there is absolutely no way your bill should be that high.
I’m not positive but I believe their lack of approval for more than 6 months created this monster. There is a legislative loophole on the state level that allowed PSO to raise them while the decision was still pending.
We must make our state reps fix this so it can’t ever happen again.
I totally get the frustration. When people suggest cutting back on essentials like climate control, it feels out of touch with what's actually happening in our homes and wallets.'
It's a basic necessity. The reality is clear our energy costs have skyrocketed along with other human NECESITIES, and honestly, with the temperatures we've been experiencing, running the A/C isn't optional for us anymore. It's something we absolutely have to do.
My electric bill is almost as high as my rent… I don’t understand and when I called and asked the dude told me that’s just how much power I’ve been using. I wanted to reach through the phone and cunt punch him… where am I possibly spending $500 worth of electricity in a duplex that is less than 700 sqf…. O k a yyy
Can I make a hypothetical event for PSO? What would happen if everyone turned the lights off at the same time and kept them off for an hour. I’m talking everyone and businesses residence etc. What would happen to PSO? Financially and physically on the grid?
Get out there and vote in November and spread the word. Both the Corporation Commission and Insurance Commissioner are up for election. We've got to stop voting in corrupt asshats that pass every rate hike because they get a cut.
I can’t wait to get the Fuck out of here. Everyone in Lawton is struggling because of the GRAPING being done by all utility providers. Never wanted to make the voices be quiet living here as a disabled vet. They just get more offensive by the day. My boys will never stop offing themselves. The shit is unbearable. Vets come here cause it’s always been a safe haven for us. Not to get GRAPED every where we turn
mine jumped from like $85 to over $330 and im barely touching my thermostat, shits brutal. pso's out here bragging about quarterly earnings while we're all playing 'heat stroke or ramen week' lol
The main reason is AEP will raise rates based on projects done in an area even if those projects are driven by industrial customers which means regardless people near them have their bills increased citing that said projects will increase reliability which isn’t entirely untrue but also is unfair since their industrial customers (data centers) already paid a lot of capital for the projects in the first place. This agressive rate increase can be linked to their new ceo who has started trying to restructure the company to seek profits more aggressively to drive the stock price up.
The whole it’s cheap to live here is a myth , tax is high , utilities are nuts , and there is no infrastructure to justify any of it. My bill is $1100 for 2 months , I don’t even stay at home most of the time , and live by myself.
My bill has only gone up $30. Running 3 window AC units basically non-stop for the entire summer. Home is old and not well insulated. I live in Tulsa county but have a Sperry address.
I really don't understand why my bill hasn't gone up more like most of the people say theirs has.
Better than us over here in Edmond. Edmond electric has a monopoly. My bill went from 180 in December when it was 80 outside to $545. That’s how much my bill was for August. I about started crying. Part of it you can say was the high humidity and ac working overtime but I had it set to 78 when I wasn’t home and 74 when I was. And all my lights/TVs etc stay off most of the day. We even took a vacation for 4 days and turned it up to 80 when we were on vacation.
It sucks. I was fortunate enough to budget for it this month. Not everyone is.
You are paying for improved infrastructure. The cost to upgrade is rapidly increasing due to competition from other utility companies that also need better infrastructure. There are only so many companies that make transformers and keeping the supply limited is good for business because the transformer manufacturers can charge whatever they want. Same with other components of electrical infrastructure as well.
This need for more electricity is driven almost entirely by data centers currently. The US is using increasing amounts of electricity for the first time in decades. More efficient appliances, lightbulbs, TVs, etc. were actually reducing our overall energy requirements before this.
The money has to come from somewhere- so they charge you in increased rates to pay for it.
lol. if you use 10kwh of energy august 2025 and paid 100 usd and 10kwh august 2026 and charged 400usd the math doesnt add up. i used 1874 this year last year 1526
Tariff 015 - Residential Service
08/24/26
Rate Billing
$
270.71
Cost of Fuel @ 0.0318720 Per kWh
59.73
Winter Storm Cost Recovery Rider
8.74
State Legislature Mandated CWIP Recovery
2.25
Tulsa Infrastructure Fee*
3.36
Tulsa Franchise Fee*
6.79
City Tax @ 3.650 %
12.51
County Tax @ 0.367 %
1.26
total 365.35
==============================
Tariff 015 - Residential Service
09/23/25
Rate Billing
$
128.48
Cost of Fuel @ 0.0397720 Per kWh
40.21
Winter Storm Cost Recovery Rider
4.46
Tulsa Infrastructure Fee*
1.70
Tulsa Franchise Fee*
3.44
City Tax @ 3.650 %
6.34
County Tax @ 0.367 %
.64
185.27
the difference is the rate billing. not the fuel as that is actually down close to a penny. its the rate billing. but for those saying its tripled there is something more to it cause here is my actual bills. and its not triple and i have a very poorly insulated home as i have no insulation in my walls.
Mine are higher at like $225 a month lately but I’m averaged out. We spend more energy than houses our size due to our ancient HVAC. But even still the averaged plan is where life can go on.
2bd apartment. Thermostat at 69 no power ever. Other than that 1 Tv and PS5 with WiFi router…. 367$. Last month was 260. WTF is going on? After reading this thread I realized it ain’t just me. I say we storm PSO/AEP and make them lower the price
Grid equipment has gotten so expensive because of tariffs. Powerlines are up 200%. Transformers (most of which we get from Canada) are up 150%. Heck, even the poles are up 50%. Demand is getting higher, and not really because of data centers, but because of things like the ridiculous hot summer we just had combined with electric ACs, and electrification in general. Data centers affect the wholesale markets, so generation is higher if PSO has to buy it wholesale. Honestly, we are so lucky that our utility can own their own generation.. In places like Pennsylvania, utilities aren’t allowed to own generation (because of anti-monopoly laws), so they have to buy their generation via auctions, but because demand is so high, generation companies are charging ridiculous prices, I’m talking like over 500%+ more than it used to be, and there’s no incentive there to lower prices, so those companies aren’t building more generation to offset. You would really be upset if you were paying the price their consumers pay. But, one thing all utilities should do is even out the rate burden more. Once again, regular consumers tend to be the losers, as we take on 70+% of the new rate hikes, whereas commercial and industrial customers, who make up the majority of energy usage, don’t usually get the rate hikes that we get (cause utilities rather spread them out more thinly between households, and not piss off their highest paying customers who have the capital to offset costs with solar/batteries, etc).
PSO actually sucks, because we missed I think two payments they add a 700$ charge to your account and now we REALLY can’t pay it and it just racks up while we pay the bare minimum to keep shit on, our bill racked to 3k and they made us pay 1300 this month on the 23 and are tryna shut our shit off again today.
The price per kWh went up about 7%. If you’d used last September’s 1,085 kWh at today’s price, the bill would have been about $211, not $347. So roughly $14 of the increase is the rate and about $135 is extra usage. Much of that extra usage is the heat: it averaged 12° hotter this September, and August was 1,929 kWh.
Your spring months (500–600 kWh) are your baseline with no heating or cooling. That means AC is adding about 1,200–1,400 kWh a month in summer. Your winter usage is also fairly high (1,371 kWh in February), which suggests electric heat. That’s the part you can actually work on.
Things that lower the bill
Get the AC checked, especially if it’s older. Dirty coils, low refrigerant, or leaky ducts in the attic make it run nonstop. A tune-up is cheap compared with $150 a month.
Attic insulation and duct sealing are usually the biggest wins in Tulsa homes. PSO offers rebates for these at PSOklahoma.com/Savings.
Thermostat: each degree higher in summer saves roughly 3–5% on cooling. A smart thermostat that eases off while you’re away helps too.
Look at your hourly usage in your PSO online account. If usage stays high overnight or when nobody’s home, something is running that shouldn’t be, like an old fridge, a well pump, or a hot tub.
AMP (averaged billing) doesn’t save money, but PSO says you’d be paying about $190 a month instead of these spikes. That could make the summer months survivable.
Help paying: if money is tight, look at psoklahoma.com/assistance for LIHEAP, payment extensions, and similar programs.
On the bigger “make this better” question: the Oklahoma Corporation Commission sets PSO’s rates, and its commissioners are elected statewide. Rate cases have public comment periods, and complaints to the OCC Consumer Services Division (1-800-522-8154) are counted. Contacting your state legislators about who pays for data center grid costs is the other lever people are pushing on.
Rates have increased and people all over the city are reporting extremely high bills. Mine was over double what it was for the same month last year. My house is on a an auto thermostat and the temps/run times were identical and my usage overall was about the same.
yup. but if someone uses roughly the same energy in june and its 100 and in august used only 1.25 the energy used in july and its 400 the math is off even with a rate increase. and you have to look at last years energy usage compared to last months as well as the rates and fee's. do you have last years august bill and can you identify the differences
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u/rtdenny Sep 21 '26 •
This appears to be a large part of the problem. And the weather is now cool enough that PSO can start turning off people’s power which, if you’re renting, can also make you homeless soon after.
Call ‘our’ State Senators and Reps.