Delaney to OGE Shareowners: Capital Program Signals Growth

OKLAHOMA CITY, May 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- OGE Energy Corp. Chairman and CEO Pete Delaney told shareowners gathered for their annual meeting that 2010 was another record year for financial performance, a product of outstanding operational performance that must continue as the company embarks on a program of unprecedented growth.

"Our $1.4 billion capital expenditure program is the largest in our history, and it's a strong signal of growth as we move forward," Delaney told shareowners. "We have a number of investment opportunities associated with our plans for both OG&E and Enogex and, as you would suspect, we have much work to do."

Delaney noted that OGE Energy, through subsidiaries Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company (OG&E) and OGE Enogex Holdings LLC (Enogex), "continues to pursue a prudent approach to managing our business," at the same time "accommodating growth, prepared to address the unknowns that come along the way."

For OG&E, the company's regulated electric utility, major investments include the smart grid, with more than 300,000 new meters installed so far, wind power, which is expected to account for more than 10 percent of total generating capacity by this time next year, and expansion of the electric transmission system, with 560 miles of new lines expected to be built by 2015.

"While continued investment in infrastructure is a key to serving our electric customers effectively, the recovery of that investment is required for OG&E to commit future capital," Delaney said.

For Enogex, the midstream natural gas business, Delaney reported the growth picture remains positive.  "We expect continued growth in gathering and processing volumes this year due to continued activity in the Granite and Colony Wash, Cana and Woodford Shale areas," he said. "This is growth on top of the all-time-high gathering and processing volumes reached in 2010."

To process all of this gas, Enogex is constructing two new natural gas processing plants that will increase the company's processing capacity by 33 percent when they come online in 2011 and 2012.  

In voting announced at the annual meeting, OGE Energy shareowners approved a proposal to amend the Restated Certificate of Incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock from 125 million to 225 million, approved, on an advisory basis, the compensation paid to executive officers, approved, on an advisory basis, holding advisory votes on executive compensation every year, ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's principal independent accountants for 2011, and elected three members of the company's board of directors to one-year terms:

• Kirk Humphreys, chairman and manager of The Humphreys Company LLC, was re-elected.  He has been a director of OGE Energy and of OG&E since November 2007.
• Linda Petree Lambert, president of LASSO Corporation and Enertree, L.L.C., was re-elected.  She has been a director of OGE Energy and of OG&E since November 2004.
• Leroy C. Richie, counsel to the law firm Lewis & Munday, P.C., was re-elected.  He has been a director of OGE Energy and of OG&E since November 2007.

Also today, the OGE Energy Corp. Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.375 per common share of stock, to be paid July 29, 2011 to shareowners of record on July 8, 2011. The dividend was unchanged from the previous quarter.

OGE Energy (NYSE: OGE) is the parent company of OG&E, which serves more than 785,000 customers in a service territory spanning 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas, and of OGE Enogex Holdings LLC, a midstream natural gas pipeline business with principal operations in Oklahoma.

Some of the matters discussed in this presentation may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions.  Such forward-looking statements are intended to be identified in this document by the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "objective", "plan", "possible", "potential", "project" and similar expressions.  Actual results may vary materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.  Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions, including the availability of credit, access to existing lines of credit, access to the commercial paper markets, actions of rating agencies and their impact on capital expenditures; the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to access the capital markets and obtain financing on favorable terms; prices and availability of electricity, coal, natural gas and natural gas liquids, each on a stand-alone basis and in relation to each other as well as the processing contract mix between percent-of-liquids, keep-whole and fixed-fee; business conditions in the energy and natural gas midstream industries; competitive factors including the extent and timing of the entry of additional competition in the markets served by the Company; unusual weather; availability and prices of raw materials for current and future construction projects; Federal or state legislation and regulatory decisions and initiatives that affect cost and investment recovery, have an impact on rate structures or affect the speed and degree to which competition enters the Company's markets; environmental laws and regulations that may impact the Company's operations; changes in accounting standards, rules or guidelines; the discontinuance of accounting principles for certain types of rate-regulated activities; whether OG&E can successfully implement its smart grid program to install meters for its customers and integrate the smart grid meters with its customer billing and other computer information systems; advances in technology; creditworthiness of suppliers, customers and other contractual parties; the higher degree of risk associated with the Company's nonregulated business compared with the Company's regulated utility business; and other risk factors listed in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission including those listed in Risk Factors and Exhibit 99.01 to the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010.

SOURCE OGE Energy Corp.