Oklahoma AG files first lawsuits over alleged market manipulation during 2021 winter storm

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced the first lawsuits against energy companies he says price-gouged after 2021′s Winter Storm Uri.

Drummond filed litigation against Enable entities (ET Gathering & Processing successor by merger to Enable Midstream Partners, Enable Oklahoma Intrastate Transmission, Enable Gas Transmission, and Enable Energy Resources) and Symmetry Energy Solutions LLC.

Enable and Symmetry supplied natural gas and managed intrastate natural gas pipelines throughout Oklahoma during the 2021 winter storm. Their customers included the Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA), Oklahoma’s largest public power utility. Symmetry directly supplies natural gas to many of the state’s public schools, cities, counties, and hospitals.

In a press release, the Oklahoma AG’s Office said Enable and Symmetry employed “a variety of tactics to drive up the index prices, including reduction of supply and submitting trades at unconscionable price levels” to charge GRDA exorbitant fees “dictated by the artificially inflated index prices.”

Drummond says Oklahoma is vulnerable to market manipulation and anti-competitive behavior because the state doesn’t impose restrictions on intrastate pipeline operators from owning the commodity they transport and sell.

“I believe the level of fraud perpetrated on Oklahomans during Winter Storm Uri is both staggering and unconscionable,” Drummond said. “While many companies conducted themselves above board during that trying time, our analysis indicates that some bad actors reaped billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains. It is important that we do everything in our power to hold bad actors accountable for their actions.”

Drummond’s lawsuits accuse Enable and Symmetry of artificially reducing natural gas supply when demand was high during the storm.

“They knew that it would bring sustained below-freezing temperatures and that it would increase demand for natural gas. Armed with this knowledge, Defendants used that time to prepare, but not in the way that was rightfully expected from them,” the lawsuits read. “Instead of ensuring adequate natural gas supplies to GRDA, upon information and belief Defendants spent the weeks and days before Winter Storm Uri’s arrival in Oklahoma taking deliberate steps, which continued after Winter Storm Uri’s arrival, to reduce the availability of natural gas in Oklahoma. They did so with the objective of driving natural gas prices — and their resulting profits — exponentially higher, to the detriment of GRDA and everyone else in Oklahoma.”

These lawsuits come nearly nine months after Drummond announced he was looking into taking legal action over alleged market manipulation in the wake of the storm. In December, Drummond launched a tip line to report illegal cost manipulation.

Winter Storm Uri devastated the state, prompting the President to approve a disaster declaration.

To read the petitions against Enable and Symmetry, click HERE and HERE.

Customers who think they were affected by inflated prices can access Drummond’s tip line HERE.